Sarah C. Mangelsdorf

Sarah C. Mangelsdorf became president of the University of Rochester on July 1, 2019. An experienced academic leader, Mangelsdorf served as provost at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before coming to Rochester. She is a professor of psychology who is internationally known for her research on social and emotional development.

Sarah Mangelsdorf is known for her work on issues of academic quality, educational access, and diversity and inclusion at some of the nation’s leading public and private institutions. She has earned wide recognition for developing important strategic initiatives tailored to the goals of each institution and for taking a leading role in building both financial and institutional support for those goals.

Mangelsdorf served as chief operating officer at Wisconsin, where her responsibilities included oversight of all academic programs and budget planning for 12 schools and colleges, including Education, Business, Engineering, and Graduate Studies, as well as the Schools of Medicine and Public Health and of Nursing, which are affiliated with UW Health, the integrated health system of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

She served as dean of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University before becoming provost at Wisconsin in 2014. She began her academic career at the University of Michigan and in 1991 moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she later was dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.