Fairleigh Dickinson University has announced that Dr. Benjamin Rifkin will become the university’s new Dean of the Maxwell Becton College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Rifkin is currently Professor of Russian and formerly Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Science, Including the School of Education, at Hofstra University. He was previously the Provost at Ithaca College and before that the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at The College of New Jersey. He has an impressive record of scholarship in Russian studies and language pedagogy. His service to his discipline have been widely recognized by his peers, as has his advocacy on behalf of students, women, and interfaith dialogue. He is currently much in demand as a speaker on the events in Eastern Europe and Russia. Dr. Rifkin received his BA and MA in Russian and East European Studies from Yale and his PhD in Slavic Language and Literature from the University of Michigan. This past year, he was awarded the degree Doctor of Letters honoris causa by Middlebury College. Read more here.