Carol Tecla Christ (born 1944) is an American academic administrator. In March 2017, she was named the 11th Chancellor of the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, the first woman to hold that position. She succeeded outgoing Chancellor
Nicholas B. Dirks on July 1, 2017.
Education
Christ was born in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. In 1966, she graduated with high honors in English from
Douglass College
Douglass Residential College, is an undergraduate, non degree granting higher education program of Rutgers University-New Brunswick for women. It succeeded the liberal arts degree-granting Douglass College after it was merged with the other und ...
, the women's college at
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...
. She received an MPhil in 1969 and a PhD in 1970 in English from
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
.
Career
In 1970, Christ joined the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, and was chair of the English department from 1985 to 1988. In 1988, she was appointed dean of humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. She also served as provost and dean of the College of Letters and Sciences. In 1994, Christ was appointed vice chancellor, assistant manager, and provost (and later became executive vice chancellor) at Berkeley. Christ was the highest-ranking female administrator at Berkeley until she returned to full-time teaching in 2000.
Christ became the 10th president of
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
in 2002.
At Smith, Christ led a strategic planning process to identify the distinctive intellectual traditions of the Smith curriculum and foster initiatives to further develop students’ essential capacities. Throughout her administrative career, Christ has maintained an active program of teaching and research. She has published two books: ''The Finer Optic: The Aesthetic of Particularity in Victorian Poetry'' and ''Victorian and Modern Poetics''. She also edited a Norton Critical Edition of
George Eliot
Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wro ...
’s ''
The Mill on the Floss
''The Mill on the Floss'' is a novel by George Eliot, first published in three volumes in 1860 by William Blackwood. The first American edition was published by Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York.
Plot summary
Spanning a period of 10 to ...
'' and co-edited the ''Norton Anthology of English Literature and Victorian Literature'' and ''The Victorian Visual Imagination''. Until recently, she was professor of English at Smith, offering seminars on science and literature and on the arts.
Christ was the president of
Smith College
Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith (Smith College ...
from 2002 to 2013. She announced in May 2012 that she had, along with the Board of Trustees, begun the search for her successor. She retired in June 2013.
In May 2016, Christ returned to her role as Berkeley's Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost (interim), replacing
Claude Steele
Claude Mason Steele (born January 1, 1946) is a social psychologist and emeritus professor at Stanford University, where he is the I. James Quillen Endowed Dean, Emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and Lucie Stern Professor i ...
, who stepped down.
On March 13, 2017, University of California President
Janet Napolitano
Janet Ann Napolitano (; born November 29, 1957) is an American politician, lawyer, and university administrator who served as the 21st governor of Arizona from 2003 to 2009 and third United States secretary of homeland security from 2009 to 20 ...
named Christ as Berkeley's new Chancellor-elect, and three days later, the
Regents of the University of California
The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sy ...
confirmed her appointment.
On July 1, 2017, Christ became the 11th Berkeley Chancellor and the first woman to serve in this role, succeeding Chancellor
Nicholas B. Dirks.
At the start of her first academic year as chancellor, Christ responded to the
2017 Berkeley protests in which protests against conservative speakers led to violent outbreaks. In a letter to the campus which quoted
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...
, she affirmed the administration's commitment to free speech and urged the community to remember its roots as part of the
Free Speech Movement
The Free Speech Movement (FSM) was a massive, long-lasting student protest which took place during the 1964–65 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. The Movement was informally under the central leadership of B ...
. She later took other steps in this direction which included moderating a panel on free expression and committing $800,000 to providing security for controversial speakers. In a September 2017 interview, she stated that some students find the concept of free speech objectionable.
Christ is a trustee of
Central European University
Central European University (CEU) is a private research university accredited in Austria, Hungary, and the United States, with campuses in Vienna and Budapest. The university is known for its highly intensive programs in the social science ...
, served on the board of the
Consortium on Financing Higher Education The Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE) is an organization of thirty-nine private colleges and universities. Formed in the mid-1970s, COFHE is an unincorporated, voluntary, institutionally-supported organization of 39 highly selective, ...
(COFHE) and was a trustee of
Sarah Lawrence College
Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...
and
Dominican University of California
Dominican University of California is a private university in San Rafael, California. It was founded in 1890 as Dominican College by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. It is one of the oldest universities in California.
Dominican is accredite ...
.
Honors
Christ was elected a Fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 2004 and a Member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 2013. Additionally, she was awarded Yale University's
Wilbur Cross Medal
The Wilbur Cross Medal, or Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal for Alumni Achievement, is an award by the Yale University Graduate School Alumni Association to recognize "...distinguished achievements in scholarship, teaching, academic administration, and p ...
in 2007, and in 2011, the
American College of Greece
The American College of Greece (ACG) is a private college and high school in Agia Paraskevi, Greece. It was founded by United Church of Christ American missionaries in 1875. It was originally a primary and secondary school for girls. As of 2020, ...
awarded her an honorary doctorate.
Personal life
Christ's late husband, Paul Alpers, was a scholar of Renaissance English literature and the founding director of Berkeley's Townsend Center for the Humanities until his death in 2013. She has two grown children, Jonathan and Elizabeth Sklute, from a previous marriage, as well as two grandchildren. She currently lives in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
.
Selected publications
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References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Christ, Carol T.
1944 births
Living people
American women academics
American academics of English literature
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Women heads of universities and colleges
Literary critics of English
Writers from New York City
Rutgers University alumni
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Presidents of Smith College
21st-century American women