Dear members of the Columbia School of Social Work community,
I am pleased to share with you that Julien Teitler, the D’Elbert and Selma Keenan Professor at the Columbia School of Social Work (CSSW), has agreed to serve as interim dean of CSSW, effective September 1.
Julien has been part of the Columbia community and a member of the CSSW faculty for nearly three decades. He is a sociologist and demographer whose research focuses on family well-being, maternal and child health, poverty, and the broader social and economic factors that shape health outcomes, especially among underserved populations. His recent work has examined fertility trends across nations, health, and health disparities; the effects of demographics on maternal and infant health; and the health outcomes of immigrants in the United States, among other topics. His work has been supported by the NIH, NSF, and private foundations, among others.
At CSSW, Julien has previously served as senior associate dean for academic affairs and research and chair of the doctoral program. He also chaired Columbia’s Morningside Institutional Review Board and served as co-director of both the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program at Columbia University and the Columbia Population Research Center. He also served Columbia as the chair of the Provost’s Tenure Review Advisory Committee during the 2025-2026 academic year. In addition to his scholarship and meaningful institutional leadership, Julien is a widely admired teacher and mentor, lauded for his efforts to promote the careers of tenure-track and mid-career faculty and to support graduate students. He holds a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MA and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
Julien brings to this role an impressive combination of administrative experience, commitment to scholarship, and care for CSSW’s students, faculty, and staff. We are fortunate that he has agreed to serve CSSW in this critical interim role. I will have more to share soon on the search process for the next permanent dean. In the meantime, please join me in thanking Julien for agreeing to serve in this way and in extending our continued and deep gratitude to Melissa Begg for her remarkable seven-year term as dean.
Sincerely,
Jennifer L. Mnookin
President, Columbia University in the City of New York
