Anthony Cascardi
Anthony Cascardi, a widely published authority on Spanish literature and the director of the Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, has been named the campus’s next dean of arts and humanities, effective July 1.
Cascardi, a Berkeley faculty member since 1980, will replace Janet Broughton, who was named in November as the new vice provost for academic affairs and faculty welfare. He served as interim dean of arts and humanities in 2005-06, until Broughton’s appointment as dean in 2006. A professor of comparative literature, Spanish and Portuguese, and rhetoric, Cascardi also chaired the comparative literature and rhetoric departments before taking the helm of the Townsend Center in 2006.
A prolific scholar who earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in Romance languages and literatures at Harvard, Cascardi has written extensively on such artists as Cervantes and Goya, and on issues of philosophy and aesthetics in art and literature. He has served on the boards of Cal Performances and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
In his announcement of Cascardi’s appointment, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost George Breslauer praised him as “a creative and successful leader,” and cited his “deep understanding of the needs and ambitions of the faculty, staff and students.” Cascardi, he wrote, “has earned the trust of the administration and the respect and admiration of his colleagues.”