As announced in a memorandum by NYU President Andrew Hamilton on April 27, Mariet Westermann will be NYU Abu Dhabi’s next Vice Chancellor, effective Aug. 1.

The Vice Chancellor Search Committee has been deliberating for nearly a year on the replacement for current Vice Chancellor Alfred Bloom, who has served in the position since 2009. Their process included not only meetings and interviews with candidates from throughout the world but also panel discussions with students and other members of the NYU Abu Dhabi community.

Ms. Westermann is the Executive Vice President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and previously held the positions of NYU Abu Dhabi Provost from April 2007 to June 2010 and Director of the NYU Institute of Fine Arts from 2002 to 2008. Westermann graduated from Williams College with a B.A. in History and attained her M.A. and PhD in Art History from NYU in 1996.

In his message to the NYUAD community, President Hamilton wrote, “Mariet's proven leadership qualities, her experience and involvement in the founding of NYUAD, her superb academic qualifications, her skill as an institution-builder, her collegiality, and the warm relationships she and her family had already cultivated in the UAE community caused her to stand out even in the extremely strong field of candidates that was assembled.”

Shortly after the announcement, Ms. Westermann posted a message on her Instagram, “I'm thrilled and grateful to be the next Vice Chancellor of New York University Abu Dhabi, a learning and research community second to none, in a dynamic city and cultural crossroads of the world!”