Dr. Sabrina C. Agarwal, Professor and recent Chair of the Department of Anthropology, has been appointed interim Dean of the Undergraduate Studies Division in UC Berkeley’s College of Letters & Science. Her term will run from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.
“I am thrilled to serve as interim Dean and excited to support the Division’s many academic programs and initiatives as well as undergraduate student advising, and to continue to uphold the Division’s commitment to ensure students receive a rigorous liberal arts education rooted in equity, belonging, and community,” said Professor Agarwal.
Agarwal’s appointment follows Executive Dean Jennifer Johnson-Hanks’ announcement that she will step down at the end of June after a successful five-year term, and will begin a new role as Campus Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor at UC Santa Cruz in January 2027.
"I am pleased that Sabrina will be serving as the interim Dean of Undergraduate Studies for L&S. Throughout her career at Berkeley, she has demonstrated a deep commitment to our students, and I am confident she will continue to uplift the undergraduate experience during her time in this role," said Johnson-Hanks.
Committed to Berkeley’s Public Mission
Originally from Canada, Agarwal received her B.A., M.Sc and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and completed postdoctoral training at McMaster University before joining UC Berkeley in 2004.
“I came to Berkeley for the excellence in research, and as an anthropologist, this is one of the leading programs and departments globally. But I stayed and flourished when I realized how special Berkeley is – to maintain that excellence, to be ranked with private colleges while still being a public institution that serves a diverse student body in our state and country, is huge. I think people outside do not really realize how valuable and special that is – and how special that makes our students, faculty and staff that choose to be part of that,” said Agarwal.
Leadership and Academic Excellence
In 2023, Agarwal became chair of the Department of Anthropology, a program with an illustrious history at UC Berkeley that has long been ranked among the top five in the United States. As a biological anthropologist and bioarchaeologist, her research focuses on bioethics, and sex- and gender-related changes in bone quantity and quality, and the relationship of those changes to social identity and inequality, embodiment, developmental plasticity, disability, and health. Her extensive departmental leadership roles also include serving as Faculty Graduate Advisor, Faculty Advisor for GSI Affairs, Faculty Undergraduate Advisor, Faculty Equity Advisor, and Curriculum Committee Chair. Throughout her tenure, she has maintained an active research program with robust graduate and undergraduate training.
In addition to her leadership roles within the college, Agarwal also served as a Special Advisor to former Chancellor Carol Christ, a member of the UC Berkeley Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Advisory Implementation Committee, and on the Commission for the Ethical Treatment of Human Remains (TCETHER) of the American Anthropological Association. Her current research examines the practice and ethics of curation and repatriation of skeletal and ancestral remains, and the history and ethics of eating animals.
She is founder of the Western Bioarchaeology Group (WeBiG), co-founder and former co-chair of the Bioarchaeology Interest Group in the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), is co-founding Editor of Bioarchaeology International,and currently serves on the Editorial Board of The Yearbook of Biological Anthropology