Catharine R. Stimpson is University Professor and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Science at New York University. From January 1994, to October 1997, she served as Director of the Fellows Program at the MacArthur Foundation in Chicago. Her public service has included the chairpersonships of the New York State Council for the Humanities, the National Council for Research on Women, and the Ms. Magazine Board of Scholars. In 1990, she was the President of the Modern Language Association. She is now a member of the board of directors of several educational, philanthropic, and cultural organizations, including Scholars at Risk, whose board she chairs. She is a former member of the board of PBS.