Laurie O. Robinson, a nationally known leader in criminal justice policy, has been named director of Penn’s new Master of Science Program in Criminology. Prior to her appointment at the University, Robinson worked for nearly three decades in criminal justice reform and innovation and worked as assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice. There, she oversaw the Office of Justice Programs from 1993 to 2000.

Nathan Smith Gr’01 was appointed House Dean for Ware College House, as of March 1. Smith worked as a PACE Program Coordinator and Research Fellow at Penn’s Cantor Fitzgerald Center for Research on Education from 1999 to 2001 and taught courses on American pedagogy, multiculturalism and ethnography at the GSE. Smith has a long-standing interest in residential living and learning and served for three years as a Graduate Assistant in Stouffer College House while at the GSE.

Brian L. Strom, the George S. Pepper Professor of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, has been appointed Associate Vice Dean and Associate Vice President for Strategic Integration at the Health System and School of Medicine. He has been a member of Penn’s faculty since 1980, and also holds faculty appointments in biostatistics and epidemiology, in medicine, and pharmacology. He also heads the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics and chairs the Graduate Group in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He will retain these positions as he assumes his new responsibilities.