Biography

View Nicholas B. Dirks' full curriculum vitae

NICHOLAS B. DIRKS is an internationally recognized historian and anthropologist, and an important leader in higher education. Well-known for his commitment to and advocacy for accessible, high-quality undergraduate education, to the globalization of the university, and to interdisciplinary innovation and collaboration, he was named in November 2012 as the 10th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, where he is still a Professor of History and Anthropology in the Graduate School.

In June 2020, Dirks assumed leadership of the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) as President and Chief Executive Officer. Founded in 1817, the New York Academy is among the oldest scientific organizations in the United States, having featured thinkers and innovators from all walks of life, including U.S. Presidents Jefferson and Monroe, Thomas Edison, Charles Darwin, Margaret Mead, and many more. Dirks managed the Academy through the pandemic, converting it for a time into a major source of information about pandemic related issues while stabilizing its finances and increasing its revenues. He has also focused the attention of the Academy on the social, cultural, and behavioral connections with science, launching new programs in neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and climate change preparedness. Dirks has further strengthened the Board of Governors and expanded the Academy’s mission in areas ranging from education to new fellowships.

Dirks served as chancellor at Berkeley until July 1, 2017. During that time, he launched a major initiative in Data Science, focused on the centrality of undergraduate education, and devised a new structure to support work in arts and design. He invested in major research collaborations in neuroscience and genomics, developed a close working relationship with UCSF, and helped negotiate Berkeley’s participation in the $600m Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. Dirks worked to reform athletic admissions and improve the academic profile of student athletes.  He also appointed the first senior advisor to the Chancellor to guide efforts to combat sexual violence and sexual harassment, and launched an African American initiative. He established new global partnerships with Cambridge University and the National University of Singapore, while developing the Tsinghua Berkeley Shenzhen Institute and a joint climate institute with the Berkeley Lab and Tsinghua University. Dirks revamped the development operation (Fundraising 2.0) and presided over record breaking fundraising efforts, while spearheading efforts to promote more expansive alumni relations. He took on unprecedented challenges around the financial health of the university, spearheading a campus wide discussion around strategic planning and beginning the process of bringing the budget back into long-term balance while focusing on increasing accessibility for low-income and underrepresented students.

Before coming to Berkeley, he was the executive vice president for the arts and sciences and dean of the faculty at Columbia University, where, in addition to his work on behalf of undergraduate programs, he improved the governance of the Arts and Sciences, putting special emphasis on interdisciplinary, international, and diversity initiatives. The Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and History, Dirks joined Columbia in 1997 as chair of the anthropology department.  Before moving to Columbia, he was a professor of history and anthropology at the University of Michigan, beginning his teaching career at Caltech where he taught Asian history and civilization. He received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He has published five major books, edited three others, and written numerous essays, articles, and papers. His most recent book, City of Intellect: The Uses and Abuses of the University, is published by Cambridge University Press. Dirks has held numerous fellowships and scholarships and received several scholarly honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur Foundation residential fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, and the Lionel Trilling Award for his book Castes of Mind. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served on numerous national and international bodies while receiving honorary degrees in Beijing, China, and Madras, India. He is a Senior Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.