Professor of Economics Lara Shore-Sheppard will serve a second term as dean of the faculty, President Maud S. Mandel announced in a Jan. 29 email to the College. Shore-Sheppard’s second term will begin on July 1, 2026, and continue through June 30, 2029.
“I invited Lara to renew her service after consultation with the Faculty Steering Committee,” Mandel wrote in the email. “A strong voice for faculty needs and concerns, Lara has been a vital colleague on Senior Staff.”
As dean of the faculty, Shore-Sheppard is responsible for bringing faculty perspectives to the College’s leadership team. She partners with department and program chairs to support faculty hiring and develop curricular offerings. “A lot of what I do day-to-day is making sure that the College’s academic work goes on,” she said in an interview with the Record. “Williams is a bottom-up kind of place, where faculty have great ideas, and we try to work with them to figure out ways to make them happen.”
Shore-Sheppard’s first term, which began in 2023, coincided with major changes in the federal government’s approach to higher education, including proposed cuts to federal research grants and staunch criticism of diversity initiatives. “One of the challenges was not getting clear direction from the federal government,” she said of her first term.
Shore-Sheppard also led the College’s effort to navigate the hike in the H-1B visa application fee, ultimately deciding not to alter hiring practices. “We are fortunate that we are able to hire the best faculty that we can, wherever they come from,” she said. “International faculty have felt really uncertain, so we have been trying to support our international faculty as much as we can.”
In coordination with Laura K. Gura, the College’s associate general counsel, Shore-Sheppard established a paid family and medical leave policy for faculty. In addition, she helped improve upon the Rice Center for Teaching, appointing Matt Carter as new director for the program. Recently, Shore-Sheppard has partnered with the Office of Information Technology to assist faculty in transitioning to Workday, a human resources platform.
Despite the political uncertainty she has faced over the last three years, Shore-Sheppard is looking forward to her second term. The College has recently seen an increase in faculty members retiring, she said, and she will advise the upcoming faculty searches across departments. “New faculty are always exciting, because they bring new energy and ideas to the campus,” she said.
Shore-Sheppard also said she is excited for the opening of the new Multipurpose Recreation Center and further construction. “We are embarking on a rethinking of our aging and challenged athletics and recreation facilities, and that’s really exciting,” she said.
Shore-Sheppard said that the best part of her role is the people she works alongside. “Everyone cares a lot about the students,” she said. “It’s very rewarding to work with people who care about both the students and their scholarship.”
