The Krieger School of Arts and Sciences includes many centers, programs, and institutes which facilitate interdisciplinary research and/or teaching. They exist outside of any single department even as they share faculty, students, and resources with various departments. They extend the scope of the academic mission of the Krieger School and occasionally reach into the larger Johns Hopkins community and beyond the university.
KSAS interdepartmental and interdisciplinary units are extraordinarily varied in their structure, mission, funding models, and genesis. The names used to designate these entities—programs, centers, institutes—obey no strict definition. As a loose rule, Program refers to an interdisciplinary and non-departmental academic unit that offers its own courses to undergraduates and/or graduate students. A program may offer a degree major or minor, or certificate. Additionally, it delivers an array of programming of interest to faculty, students at all levels, and the community. A Center, by contrast, does not usually offer its own courses or degrees, prioritizing instead interdisciplinary research and scholarship and serving as a site for intellectual collaboration. The name Institute tends to designate a unit with a clearly articulated research and academic project, often with public-facing activities. You can find contact information for current directors on this page.
Center, Program, and Institute Leadership
There are several key figures in centers, programs, and institutes including:
- Director. Each program has a director, appointed by the dean to oversee its operations and provide intellectual and practical leadership. Depending on the individual program, the duties of the director may vary, but the basic responsibilities are to direct the day-to-day operations of the program its, event, and where relevant, its curriculum; to manage the program budget and resources; to appoint a faculty advisory board and convene meetings of the board at least once per semester; produce the annual report for the program; and prepare a self-study for periodic program reviews. If the program or center can appoint faculty, the director also devises hiring strategies, reviews teaching and resource faculty for reappointment and promotion; and reports or directs complaints of discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation to the appropriate offices.
- Associate Director. In some cases, the size and scope of a program may warrant an Associate Director, usually to oversee student advising and the day-to-day administering of the program. Where there is an undergraduate major in the program, the Associate Director will fill the role of a director of undergraduate studies. Along with the Director, the Associate Director attends meetings of the Advisory Board ex officio.
- Faculty Advisory Board. All programs have an Advisory Board selected by the Director in alignment with the university’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. A tenured member of the faculty will serve as chair of the advisory board, collaborating with the director to set the agenda for each meeting.
- Administrative Support. The dean’s office provides staff for the administrative support of the program. That support may include academic coordinating, event planning, web maintenance and budget. Depending on the size and scope of the program, that support may be shared with another unit. In some cases, the program may require the support of more than one staff person.
Guidelines for KSAS Centers, Programs and Institutes
In fall 2022, the Shared Governance Council Subcommittee on Centers, Programs and Institutes drafted KSAS Guidelines for Centers, Programs and Institutes. The guidelines establish an essential if flexible structure for these units, their leadership, and review schedule.
Directors of Centers, Programs, and Institutes
This list was updated July 2025.
| Center, Program, or Institute | Director | |
|---|---|---|
| 21st Century Cities Initiative | Mike Bader | [email protected] |
| Alexander Grass Humanities Institute | Jeanne-Marie Jackson | [email protected] |
| Archaeological Museum | Emily Anderson | [email protected] |
| Arrighi Center for Global Studies | Beverly Silver | [email protected] |
| Center for Advanced Media Studies | Berna Wegenstein | [email protected] |
| Center for Africana Studies | Lawrence Jackson | [email protected] |
| Center for Astrophysical Sciences | Stephan McCandliss | [email protected] |
| Center for Digital Humanities | Tom Lippincott | [email protected] |
| Center for Economy and Society | Louis Hyman | [email protected] |
| Center for Financial Economics | Robert Barbera | [email protected] |
| Center for Language Education | Sonja Wandelt | [email protected] |
| Center for Teaching Excellence and Innovation | Mike Reese | [email protected] |
| Charles S. Singleton Center for the Study of Premodern Europe | Stephen Campbell | [email protected] |
| Chloe Center for the Critical Study of Racism, Immigration, and Colonialism | Stuart Schrader | [email protected] |
| Hopkins Population Center | Feinian Chen | [email protected] |
| Max Kade Center | Rochelle Tobias Christiane Frey | [email protected] [email protected] |
| Medicine, Science, and the Humanities Major | Nicole Labruto | [email protected] |
| Peabody at Homewood | Suhnne Ahn | [email protected] |
| Program for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality | Katie Hindmarch-Watson | [email protected] |
| Program in Archaeology | Glenn Schwartz | [email protected] |
| Program in Behavioral Biology | Kirsten Bohn | [email protected] |
| Program in East Asian Studies | Giovanna Maria Dora Dore | [email protected] |
| Program in Environmental Science and Studies | Jerry Burgess | [email protected] |
| Program in Film and Media Studies | Meredith Ward | [email protected] |
| Program in International Studies | Sydney Van Morgan | [email protected] |
| Program in Islamic Studies | Ryan Calder | [email protected] |
| Program in Jewish Studies | James Loeffler | [email protected] |
| Program in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies | Angelina Cotler | [email protected] |
| Program in Museums and Society | Jennifer Kingsley | [email protected] |
| Program in Public Health Studies | Maria Bulzacchelli | [email protected] |
| Program in Theatre Arts and Studies | Abe Stoll | [email protected] |
| Program in Visual Arts | Margaret Murphy | [email protected] |
| Stavros Niarchos Foundation SNF Agora Institute | Hahrie Han | [email protected] |
| The Teaching Academy | Kelly Clark | [email protected] |
| University Writing Program | Matt Pavesich | [email protected] |
| Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute | Ed Connor | [email protected] |