Academics

Sarah Ades named associate dean of the Graduate School

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Sarah Ades has been named the associate dean for graduate student affairs of the Graduate School at Penn State. As associate dean, Ades will serve as a University-wide ombudsperson and an advocate for all graduate students, and will help address graduate student issues and concerns.

Ades has served as an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the Eberly College of Science since July 2008. Her long-term research investigates how information is communicated between the two compartments of a bacterial cell, the cell envelope and cytoplasm.

In her new post Ades also will be responsible for Graduate School programming directly related to graduate students, including enrichment and professional development activities such as the New Graduate Student Orientation, the Career Exploration Workshop, Grant-Writing Workshops, and the annual Graduate Exhibition.

Additionally, she will be the Graduate School’s representative on Penn State’s Behavioral Threat Management Team and on University committees and task forces dealing with graduate student issues, including committees of the Graduate Council.

“I am pleased to welcome Sarah to the Graduate School and look forward to her contributions to graduate education at the University,” said Regina Vasilatos-Younken, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School. “Her leadership and experience serving on the Graduate Student and Faculty Issues Committee of the Graduate Council make her an excellent fit for associate dean for graduate student affairs.”

Ades has received recognition for her accomplishments as a teacher. She was named a 2017 Penn State Teaching Fellow, an award given by the Penn State Alumni Association for excellence in teaching; and received the C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Eberly College of Science Alumni in 2015. She received a Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation, and won the GlaxoSmithKline Discovery Fast Track Competition in 2013.

Ades first came to Penn State in June 2002, as an assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology. Before that, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Institut de Biologie Molecularie et Cellulaire in Strasbourg, France, from 1995-1997; and at the University of California, San Francisco, from 1997-2002. She received her doctorate in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Last Updated February 27, 2018