Grant Nelsestuen, Professor of Classics and Director of Integrated Liberal Studies has been appointed the College of Letters & Science’s new Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities. Nelsestuen succeeds Susan Zaeske, who has held the position since June 2011. He officially assumes the position on August 7.
“Grant comes to the associate dean position with many years of experience on major campus-level committees,” says Eric Wilcots, Dean of the College of Letters & Science. “Having served on the University Curriculum Committee for six years and also as its chair, Nelsestuen is uniquely positioned to provide leadership on upcoming curricular initiatives that are important not only for the arts and humanities but also the College of Letters & Science as a whole.”
Nelsestuen, who earned his doctorate in Classics from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008, joined the UW-Madison faculty as a visiting professor in 2009 and became a tenure-track professor in 2010. He was awarded a Vilas Associate Award in 2021 and is the author of the 2015 book “Varro the Agronomist: Political Philosophy, Satire, and Agriculture in the Late Republic.”
Nelsestuen, whose research interests include ancient Greek and Roman cultural and intellectual history, literature, and political thought, is keenly aware of the challenges arts and humanities units continue to face, from declining student enrollment in majors to obtaining research grant dollars in a rapidly changing landscape. But he also sees opportunities for growth. As the Director of Integrated Liberal Studies, he led his fellow ILS faculty members in revitalizing and growing the interdisciplinary ILS program to meet the interests and needs of today’s students in an intentional, coherent, and “integrative” manner.
“I’m especially excited by the opportunity to help our world-class arts and humanities faculty, staff and students realize their visions and contribute to the success of their academic units and the College as a whole,” says Nelsestuen. “Arts and humanities folks are engaged in all sorts of amazing and innovative research projects—part of my job, as I see it, will be to amplify and enhance the impact of these projects and their accomplishments.”
Nelsestuen is looking forward to cultivating relationships with department chairs, as well as supporting and advancing the diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives begun by Dean Wilcots and Associate Dean DeVon Wilson. He also hopes to support arts and humanities faculty in pursuing and capturing external research- and teaching-related grants, especially interdisciplinary ones with multiple collaborators.
“I’m really looking forward to highlighting the values and the innovative, creative, and nuanced ways of understanding and knowing that the arts and humanities can bring to bear on the grand challenges we are currently facing, such as realizing a meaningful sense of belonging for everyone, especially those from historically marginalized backgrounds,” Nelsestuen says. “I’m thinking of the role that the arts and humanities have to play in responding to contemporary challenges to democracy and democratic values, to the existential threat of climate change, and to what it means to be human and to live both ethically and well in the age of big data and AI.”
Nelsestuen's predecessor is confident he'll carry on the legacy she has built over the last twelve years.
“Grant understands that the vitality and future of the arts and humanities partly lies in their power to speak to the public and he has a record of pursuing external funding for large-scale research and curricular initiatives,” says Zaeske. “His understanding that it is imperative for the arts and humanities to engage in translational research and his experience seeking funding from foundations are positive indicators of his ability to strengthen research in the arts and humanities.”