Maria Anderson, an accomplished administrator in higher education with expertise in finance and operations, will join Dartmouth as chief finance and operations officer for the Arts and Sciences. She will begin her new role on Jan. 1.
"A sociologist with more than 25 years of experience in higher education administration, Maria will bring invaluable skills and perspectives to this key leadership role at a pivotal time," says Elizabeth Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "We are thrilled to welcome her to our campus community."
"I have a fervent belief in the transformative power of higher education and the benefit of a liberal arts education," Anderson says. "The opportunity to build a sustainable infrastructure that brings together and celebrates excellence in classroom teaching and impactful research enables me to contribute to Dartmouth's mission in a meaningful way."
As chief finance and operations officer Anderson will serve on the Arts and Sciences leadership team and oversee Arts and Sciences' Operations and Finance Center and Finance and Research Administration. She will also actively engage with the Arts and Sciences reorganization project.
Anderson joins Dartmouth from the School of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University, where she has served as vice dean of finance and administration since 2020. In this role she oversees all finance, personnel, facilities, IT, and research administration operations for the school's 30,000 students and 1,800 faculty and staff. Among her many responsibilities, she leads strategic planning initiatives in collaboration with senior colleagues across the institution.
Anderson previously served as senior associate dean of finance and administration at Boston University's Questrom School of Business from 2013 to 2020. She oversaw the school's financial services as well as facilities management, IT services, sponsored projects administration, executive education and external events administration, and the dean's strategic initiatives. In addition to leading revenue and expense projections, Anderson oversaw performance management programs and long-range space planning. She also worked closely with senior leaders on faculty searches and efforts to incentivize research. Anderson concurrently served as a lecturer in the Department of Management and Organizations and as faculty in residence at the Athletics Department's Bloom Family Leadership Academy.
Anderson's prior roles in higher education administration include serving as assistant dean for operations at the School of Arts and Sciences at Hunter College and as assistant provost for administration and operations and chief of staff at SUNY Stony Brook.
Anderson also brings experience as a consultant at SciTech Strategies, an organization that studies the research landscape for academic and corporate institutions. The projects she worked on included analyzing biomedical research proposals to predict the likelihood of funding based on bibliographic and other data and working with universities and government agencies to promote research and graduate education in STEM disciplines using science mapping technology. Anderson presents regularly at conferences related to higher education administration, including the Big Ten College Administrative and Financial Officers Group and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
Anderson received a bachelor's degree in economics and master's in history from Stanford University. She earned an master's in business management and policy and a PhD in sociology from SUNY Stony Brook.
Anderson's appointment comes after a comprehensive national search led by a committee of Dartmouth leaders: Jane Lipson (search committee chair), associate dean for the sciences, Wesley A. Benbow, executive dean for administration and finance at the Geisel School of Medicine; James Feyrer, professor of economics; Dianne J. Ingalls, vice president for finance and controller; and Nina Pavcnik, professor of economics.
