New president named at Bryn Mawr College

Jane Dammen McAuliffe, dean of the college of arts and sciences at Georgetown University and an Islamic scholar, was named president of Bryn Mawr College today. She will take over from Nancy J. Vickers on July 1.

McAuliffe has been a proponent of multicultural campuses and believes that a strong grounding in natural sciences is essential for addressing the pressing issues facing this generation. She is an internationally respected scholar in the Qur'an and its interpretations, early Islamic history and the interrelationships between Islam and Christianity. In addition to publishing numerous books and journal articles, she recently completed the six-volume "Encyclopedia of the Qur'an," the first reference work of its kind in a Western language.

McAuliffe received her undergraduate degree from Trinity College, and a masters and doctorate from the University of Toronto. She has been dean of Georgetown College since 1999. Before that, she held faculty and administrative positions at Emory University and the University of Toronto. She is married to a medieval Italian literature scholar and has four children.