Husbands Fealing Appointed Assistant Director of NSF Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences

Posted February 29, 2024

Kaye Husbands Fealing, dean of Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, has been appointed assistant director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE).

Husbands Fealing first joined Georgia Tech as professor and chair of the School of Public Policy in 2014 before being named dean in 2020. Under her leadership as dean, the College has seen consistent growth in enrollment and sponsored research, development of new degrees and programs, and various programs consistently earn national rankings. Her time as the chair of the School of Public Policy resulted in similar growth, achievements, and impact. She also co-chaired the Arts@Tech Institute Strategic Planning Committee and has served on the Institute for Data Engineering and Science Council and the Intellectual Property Advisory Board.

Husbands Fealing is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected fellow of both the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She was awarded the 2023 Carolyn Shaw Bell Award from the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in the Economics Profession, as well as the 2017 Trailblazer Award from the National Medical Association Council on Concerns of Women Physicians. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum, Georgia Chapter. She serves on AAAS’ executive board and is a board member for the Society for Economic Measurement.

“From her time as chair to her service as dean, Dean Kaye’s decade of service at Tech has left an undeniable mark on the Institute, and I am proud to have served alongside her,” said Steve McLaughlin, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. “She is a trusted leader and an accomplished administrator and scholar, and we wish her well in this next chapter at the National Science Foundation.”

Husbands Fealing came to Tech from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. Before that, she served as a study director at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Her career began at Williams College, where she started as assistant professor in the Economics Department and left after 20 years as the William Brough Professor of Economics. Additionally, she held visiting professorships at Smith College and Colgate University, and a research associate position at MIT.

Husbands Fealing has a long history with the NSF, having served in several different capacities including as the inaugural program director for NSF’s Science of Science and Innovation Policy program and as the co-chair of the Science of Science Policy Interagency Task Group, chartered by the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Policy Council. She also served as an economics program director at NSF. Husbands Fealing also serves as chair of NSF’s Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering and as a member of NSF’s Directorate of STEM Education Advisory Committee.

SBE is one of eight NSF directorates and supports basic research focused on human behavior and social organizations, as well as how social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental forces affect the lives of people from birth to old age, and how people, in turn, shape those forces. The directorate is also home to one of the 13 statistical agencies in the United States, the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. Husbands Fealing’s appointment begins on April 22.

Provost McLaughlin will announce plans for interim leadership for the College soon, along with more details on a search for the next dean.