Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

June 28, 2024

Abigail Arnold | Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Charles Golden, Professor of Anthropology, has been appointed the new Dean of Brandeis University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). Golden, who is currently the Interim Dean of GSAS and the Social Sciences Division Head, will begin his regular term on July 1, 2024.

Golden will succeed Dean Wendy Cadge, who began her term as GSAS’s dean in 2021 and is leaving Brandeis to become the tenth president of Bryn Mawr College.

A professor at Brandeis since 2004, Golden is an archaeologist whose research focuses on the indigenous cultures of Mexico and Central America, with a particular interest in the pre-Hispanic Maya world. Working with colleagues from US and Mexican universities in partnership with local communities, he co-directs a long-running regional study of the natural, cultural and political landscapes of the Usumacinta River region, which today forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala, research that was featured as the cover story in the Winter 2023/2024 issue of Brandeis Magazine.

As Dean of GSAS, Golden’s priorities are working with faculty, staff, and students to strengthen the research and instructional excellence of our graduate programs, while also developing creative approaches to graduate studies that meet the needs of current and prospective students to build the skills to thrive within and beyond academia.

Away from campus, Golden is a resident and fan of Waltham, with its diverse community and green spaces. He can often be found ducking into the Central American bakeries around town, emerging with a perhaps unhealthy quantity of sweet bread; commuting on foot along the new wayside trail; or tromping through the Western Greenway.

Golden and the rest of the GSAS staff are excited to work together to continue to support students through the coming years.