XNEW YORK (June 8, 2004) — After an internal search, Dominic J. Balestra, Ph.D., a distinguished philosophy professor and former department chair, has been named the dean of Faculty of Arts & Sciences and associate academic vice president for undergraduate education, effective July 1, 2004.
“In light of his extensive service to the University, his demonstrated devotion to his faculty colleagues and his commitment to the goals of Jesuit education, I am confident that, Dr. Balestra will be an effective and persuasive advocate for the members of the Arts and Sciences faculty and a creative coordinator of the efforts of our undergraduate schools,” said Father Joseph M. McShane S.J., president of Fordham University.
A member of the Fordham faculty since 1975, Balestra’s tenure includes three years as president of the Faculty Senate and three terms as chair of the Department of Philosophy. He also served as a member of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Advisors for the Donald McGannon Communication Research Center.
“The challenge for me in this new role is to work with the respective deans of Fordham’s Arts and Sciences schools to cultivate the faculty in their academic work so that we can enrich the vibrant intellectual life that is American and Ignatian and Catholic and Fordham,“ said Balestra.
Balestra is the author of 35 publications and has delivered more than 40 lectures at universities and professional conferences in the United States and Europe. His writings on the history and rationality of science and the 17th-century scientific revolution have appeared in books and periodicals, including International Philosophical Quarterly, Modern Schoolman and the Review of Metaphysics.
Before arriving at Fordham in 1975, Balestra was a lecturer and assistant director of the honors program at Saint Louis University. He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Saint Francis College in Loretto, PA., and his doctorate in philosophy from St. Louis University.
