American scholar appointed new Dean of Faculty of Arts

Professor Robert Greenberg, a high-ranking academic from the City University of New York (CUNY), has been appointed the new Dean of the Faculty of Arts.

He takes up the post in February 2013. A Professor of Linguistics, he has taught and published extensively in the field of Balkan studies, and has been a guest lecturer at leading universities the world over.

Professor Greenberg specialises in South Slavic languages and linguistics, and has worked primarily on sociolinguistic issues in the former Yugoslavia. He holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Yale University.

He will relocate to New Zealand from New York, where he has overseen the largest academic unit in the CUNY system, the School of Arts and Sciences at Hunter College, as Acting Dean between 2009 and 2011. He is presently a Senior Associate Dean and Professor of Linguistics in the Department of Anthropology at Hunter College, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Yale.

He has been a research fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and has won two Fulbright scholarships.

Professor Greenberg is the author of several books and numerous articles including his most recent book chapter Sociolinguistics in the Balkans (London: Routledge, 2010) and his monograph, Language and Identity in the Balkans: Serbo-Croatian and Its Disintegration (Oxford University Press, 2004, second revised and expanded edition, 2008), which received the award for best book in Slavic Linguistics from the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages in 2005.

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stuart McCutcheon, says: “After an extensive international search we are pleased to appoint an academic of such high calibre to the Faculty of Arts. Dr Greenberg’s exceptional academic background and leadership ability make him an outstanding choice to lead a diverse and high-achieving faculty.”

Professor Greenberg has forged an impressive academic career, teaching also at Yale, Georgetown, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2010 he was the recipient of a CUNY Diversity award, and the prestigious William Clyde DeVane medal for excellence in teaching and scholarship from Yale University.

Professor Greenberg succeeds retiring Associate Professor Jan Crosthwaite who has been in the role since 2009.

Professor Greenberg says: “I am very excited to be joining The University of Auckland, and am delighted at the opportunity of leading such a distinguished faculty. I am eager to make the transition to New Zealand and look forward to working with the academic and professional staff at the University to promote the many diverse disciplines and programmes in the Faculty of Arts.”