Princeton Dean of the College Nancy Weiss Malkiel will step down from her administrative role at the end of this academic year, the school announced in a Wednesday press release.
In recent years, Dean Malkiel has become a lightning rod for debate over Princeton’s future due to her role in implementing the school’s grade deflation and four year college projects.
But as the official press release notes, Malkiel’s 24-year tenure as Dean of the College — the second-longest among those holding her job — has also included the introduction of many other recognizable policies and programs. These undertakings include the Princeton Writing Program, the P-D-F grading option, current course distribution requirements, the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning, and Princeton’s no-loan financial aid policy.
Malkiel will soon return to the History Department, which she joined as a faculty member in 1969 (her husband Burton Malkiel is also a professor at the University, in the Economics Department). In her post-administrative career she’ll begin work on “a book about the history of coeducation at Princeton” and eventually teach a freshman seminar on coeducation.
Regardless of the endeavors that lie in Malkiel’s future, among current students she’ll likely be remembered, not always fondly, for her strong support of the grade deflation policy that seeks to limit limit the number of A’s academic departments give out each semester.