President and Librarian The Newberry Library | Chicago, Illinois We are pleased to share that we have recently completed the search for the President and Librarian of the Newberry Library. As you may well have already heard, following a rigorous, comprehensive, and national search, Astrida Orle Tantillo has been selected. Tantillo was recruited to the Newberry's Board of Trustees in 2022 due to her extensive experience in academic administration in Chicago, and will assume her new role on December 1, 2023.Tantillo joins the Newberry from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where she served as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) from 2012 to 2022 and is currently Professor of Germanic Studies and History. Under her leadership, LAS realized its highest-ever undergraduate enrollment—a notable accomplishment given the shrinking college-age demographic. This growth, moreover, coincided with an increase in diversity: nearly half of LAS undergraduate students are from historically minoritized groups and nearly 40% are the first in their families to attend college. Tantillo also founded a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council to inform policy and advise LAS on its supported initiatives.As Dean, Tantillo also oversaw a budget of $100 million, 25 academic departments and programs, approximately 700 tenure and non-tenure track faculty members, and more than 200 staff members. During her tenure, LAS supported a variety of new centers and initiatives, including the Freshwater Lab, an interdisciplinary freshwater policy and research initiative; the Inter-University Program for Latino Research/UIC Mellon Fellows Program; and the Center for LatinX Literature of the Americas. She raised $50 million as part of IGNITE: The Campaign for UIC, while strategically investing in faculty hiring, recruitment and retention, and expanding the number of endowed chairs and professorships. She strengthened and expanded collaborations with cultural institutions including the Field Museum and Chicago Humanities.Tantillo is a humanities scholar, having authored three books on Goethe, including Goethe's Modernisms, The Will to Create: Goethe's Philosophy of Nature, and Goethe's Elective Affinities and the Critics. Tantillo earned her PhD from the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought and her BA from the University of Oregon Honors College.Jeff Kessner and Lisa Savereid led this search with Ryan Leichenauer, supported by Christina Errico. You may view the Newberry’s press release here.