Matthew Ando named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences

Ohio University Executive Vice President and Provost Dr. Elizabeth Sayrs has named Dr. Matthew Ando as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ando currently serves as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

He will begin his role as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences on July 24, 2023.

“Selecting the next dean of the College of Arts and Sciences was challenging because of the strong pool of candidates for the position. Dr. Matthew Ando stood out due to his combination of experience, knowledge and vision for the College of Arts and Sciences,” Provost Sayrs said. “An award-winning teacher and researcher, he has led several university-wide initiatives that benefitted faculty and students at Illinois.”

Ando, a professor of mathematics, has served as the associate dean at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign since 2017. He first joined the university in 1999 as an assistant professor of mathematics and has served in several positions, including chair of the Department of Mathematics from 2011-2017. He also served as an NSF postdoctoral fellow and visiting assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, a postdoctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Virginia.

He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his A.B in mathematics with a certificate in linguistics from Princeton University.

He has won numerous awards for his work, including the Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Education and the Executive Officer Distinguished Leadership Award, both from the University of Illinois. He was also named as a Big Ten Academic Alliance Academic Leadership Program Fellow and a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society. 

“I am very excited to join the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio University. The faculty, staff and students whom I met during my visit were very welcoming, and they persuasively made the case that the OHIO community has an extraordinary dedication to scholarship and to people. OHIO and its College of Arts and Sciences exemplify the public, human-centered, research-intensive university that is one of the best and most important expressions of American higher education. I look forward to working with my new colleagues to chart a bright future for the college and the university,” Ando said.

The search committee was chaired by Dr. Matthew Shaftel, dean of the College of Fine Arts, and Dr. Julie White, professor of political science and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. 

“I am thankful to the search committee for their outstanding work throughout this process,” Sayrs said. “The committee selected a pool of excellent candidates with a wealth of knowledge and experience.”

Ando will follow Interim Dean Dr. Sarah Poggione, who was named to the position in July 2022.

“I am grateful to Dr. Sarah Poggione for leading the College of Arts and Sciences this past year. Her strong academic leadership experience has been valuable to the college and the University. I look forward to continuing to work with her in her role as vice provost for undergraduate education,” Sayrs said.