Joshua Weiner appointed Associate Dean by College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Weiner, Professor of Biology, will guide the college's research and creative production efforts
Friday, May 1, 2020

Joshua WeinerThe University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) has appointed Professor of Biology Joshua Weiner to the position of Associate Dean for Research, effective July 1, 2020.

CLAS Dean Steve Goddard said Weiner will bring valuable expertise to the college's faculty leadership.

"Professor Weiner has been a highly productive researcher, as well as a popular teacher, and I look forward to working closely with him," Goddard said. "He will provide outstanding guidance to our faculty in their research and creative production efforts."

Joshua Weiner earned his PhD from the University of California, San Diego, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. He is Associate Director of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute, and focuses his research on molecular mechanisms of neuronal differentiation and neural circuit formation. His research has been continuously funded since 2004, the year he joined the Department of Biology faculty, through multiple National Institutes for Health grants and foundation awards. He has authored more than 60 publications, generating almost 7,000 citations.

In addition to his successful research program, Weiner is an innovative teacher and mentor. The former Associate Chair for Graduate Education in Biology, he has mentored 11 PhD students and 25 undergraduate researchers, and received the Graduate College's Outstanding Graduate Mentor Award in 2018. He developed a popular general education course called "How the Brain Works (And Why it Doesn't)," and received the Collegiate Teaching Award from CLAS in 2017. He co-founded the interdisciplinary undergraduate neuroscience major, which has seen rapid growth in enrollment.

Weiner is interested in the interactions between science and the arts and humanities, and plans and executes outreach events exploring those connections.

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.