“Recent events have made New Orleans and Tulane a place of both challenges and opportunities,” Haber said. “My enthusiasm for the mission of Tulane as well as my desire to be part of the team that shapes the future of New Orleans makes me extremely excited about this position and its possibilities.”
A scholar and author with extensive administrative experience, Haber graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts in history from Washington University in St. Louis in 1973 and received her doctorate in American civilization from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979.
She joined the department of history at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in 1979 and served in various academic and administrative roles at UNC-Charlotte, becoming chairperson of the history department in 1993.
In 1998, Haber came to the University of Delaware, where she was professor and chairperson of the history department. In 2003, she was named Richards Professor of History. She also has held several administrative positions at UD, including membership on the Dean's Advisory Committee, a position through which she shared oversight of the College of Arts and Sciences' budget.
"An accomplished scholar-teacher, an experienced and gifted administrator and a fine colleague possessed of exemplary values and principles, Carole Haber is an ideal choice as the new dean of the Tulane School of Liberal Arts. She will distinguish herself as an outstanding leader and an inspired collaborator. I look forward to working with Carole very much. It will be a great pleasure welcoming her and her family to our community,” Tulane Provost Michael Bernstein said.
In addition to her administrative experience, Haber's academic interests include aging and death. She has been author or coauthor of Beyond Sixty-Five: The Dilemma of Old Age in America's Past; Old Age and the Search for Security and Key Words in Sociocultural Gerontology. She also has served as a consultant on aging for NBC, BBC, NPR, the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Aging.
The School of Liberal Arts at Tulane, which Haber will lead, consists of 15 departments and 22 interdisciplinary programs including anthropology, art, classical studies, communication, economics, English, French and Italian, Germanic and Slavic Studies, history, music, philosophy, political science, sociology, Spanish and Portuguese and theatre and dance.
Photo by Kathy Atkinson