Matthew Wilkens, associate professor of information science and director of undergraduate studies for the Department of Information Science, has been appointed the next associate dean for education for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, effective July 1, 2026. He succeeds Claire Cardie, the John C. Ford Professor of Engineering in the Departments of Computer Science and Information Science and the inaugural associate dean for education at Cornell Bowers.
“Matt brings a distinguished record of scholarship, deep expertise, and a demonstrated commitment to educational innovation,” said Sorin Lerner, dean of Cornell Bowers. “His leadership will shape the next era of teaching and learning at the college, and I look forward to partnering with him as we continue to advance the college’s academic mission.”
In this three-year appointment, Wilkens will oversee the development of new educational initiatives, work closely with faculty across the college to assess and strengthen curriculum and student services, and represent Cornell Bowers on university and cross-college committees.
Wilkens earned his Ph.D. in literature from Duke University, master's degrees in English from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and in physical chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor's degree in chemistry and philosophy from the College of William and Mary. His research employs quantitative and computational methods to examine large-scale patterns in literary and cultural history, with work spanning literary text mining, geolocation extraction, genre detection, and the integration of humanities‑based inquiry with computational and social scientific approaches.
He leads several major research efforts, including the AI for Humanists and Textual Geographies projects, and serves as a co‑investigator on the AI for Cultural and Historical Reasoning and Text Mining the Novel initiatives. He is a founding editorial board member of the Journal of Cultural Analytics and the author of two books – Revolution: The Event in Postwar Fiction, and Gender and Literary Geography (with Elizabeth Evans).
Before joining Cornell, Wilkens taught at the University of Notre Dame, where he held the Ruth and Paul Idzik Associate Professorship in Digital Scholarship.
“I’m excited to build on the strong foundation Claire established and to shape Bowers’ next phase of educational programs at this important moment,” Wilkens said. “We’re developing new offerings for students in AI, evolving our existing classes to take advantage of new tools, and maintaining our focus on the most important problems in computing. I look forward to working with colleagues in Bowers and beyond to train the next generation of leaders in the field.”
Wilkens follows Cardie, who served as the college’s first associate dean for education for the last five years.
“I would also like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Claire for her dedication and leadership in this role,” Lerner said. “Her work in establishing and expanding the Office of Education has been foundational to the college’s success. She partnered to build a strong and effective Student Services team, launched new minors, and ensured that our curriculum, instruction, advising, and learning experiences continue to meet the highest standards. We are deeply grateful for her vision and service.”