Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

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About the Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

Sarah Anderson

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In 2019, Dean Steven Gaines appointed Professor Sarah Anderson as the inaugural Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at UC Santa Barbara. “Professor Anderson is an accomplished scholar, an award-winning teacher, and has a track record for leadership that has produced a more diverse and inclusive student body and faculty,” said Dean Gaines. “She is a champion for diversity whose collaborative and pragmatic approach has increased the number of women faculty and increased underrepresented minorities in the student body.” The role of the Associate Dean is to work with the Bren community to recruit and retain diverse faculty, increase diversity among Bren School Master’s and PhD students, and create a culture of inclusion.

Dr. Anderson leads efforts to ensure that research, teaching, and service at the Bren School involves and empowers all communities. As Associate Dean, her initiatives include faculty search committee trainings on reducing bias in search practices, developing a school-wide Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, engaging with Associate Deans across the university to enhance inclusive excellence, and supporting student engagement in environmental justice.

Dr. Anderson has also focused her campus-wide leadership on efforts to improve diversity. She has served on the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on the Status of Women, the Chancellor’s Search Advisory Committee for the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the Chancellor’s Task Force on Childcare, and the Graduate Council. In these roles, Dr. Anderson has used her voice to support making UCSB a campus where diverse students, faculty, and staff thrive and led efforts to improve data availability and transparency.  

Sarah Anderson was appointed Assistant Professor at the Bren School in 2007. She earned a PhD in Political Science and MA in Economics at Stanford University, as well as a BS in Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the coauthor of Rejecting Compromise: Legislators’ Fear of Primary Voters (2020, Cambridge University Press).