June 23, 2026
Dear Members of the UC Santa Barbara Community,
I am very pleased to join with Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost David Marshall in announcing the appointment of Dr. Elena Irwin as the next Dean of the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, effective September 21, 2026.
Dr. Irwin is a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State University in the Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics and the founding director of the Sustainability Institute at Ohio State. Her research addresses the sustainability of human-natural systems at local and regional scales, including land use and ecosystem services across urban and rural areas. An expert in spatial models of land-use change, her current research focuses on integrated modeling of land and water systems and the sustainability assessment of subnational regions. She has secured more than $30 million in externally funded research, published extensively, mentored postdoctoral scholars and doctoral students, and led interdisciplinary research teams throughout her career.
Since launching the university-wide Sustainability Institute in 2019, Dr. Irwin has overseen interdisciplinary efforts that bring together 25 core faculty and more than 370 affiliated faculty, researchers, and instructors across the natural, physical, and social sciences, public health, engineering, business, planning, policy, law, and the humanities. The Institute focuses on key areas of sustainability science, including healthy land water and air systems, sustainable and resilient communities, and sustainable energy. Under her leadership, the Institute has supported interdisciplinary teams and leveraged internal investments to secure more than $90 million in external funding for sustainability research and education initiatives.
Elena Irwin is a fellow of both the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE) and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). In 2021, she was appointed by the US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator as an advisory member of the chartered Science Advisory Board (SAB) for a three-year term, including service as a member of the Environmental Justice Science and Analysis Review Panel. She has served on multiple national research committees with the National Research Council and National Science Foundation (NSF), including as a member of NSF's Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education subcommittee on Sustainable Urban Systems (SUS). She is president-elect of the National Sustainability Society and previously served on the boards of AERE, AAEA, and the North American Council of Regional Science. Elena has undergraduate degrees in History and German from Washington University in St. Louis and a doctorate in agricultural and resource economics from the University of Maryland.
With a strong record of collaboration and consensus building, interdisciplinary teaching and research, and extensive experience translating sustainability scholarship into policy and practice, Dr. Irwin is ideally suited to lead the Bren School in the years ahead. She has a reputation for innovative program building and the development of major initiatives through strategic research development, as well as corporate and philanthropic partnerships. We are confident that she will work with her colleagues at Bren and throughout the campus to develop an ambitious vision building on campus strengths and priorities.
We thank the search advisory committee chaired by Professor Mark Buntaine. The membership is listed below. We also would like to thank our Academic Senate Chair, vice chancellors, deans, faculty and staff colleagues, and many members of our campus community who provided important consultation and advice throughout the process. We are grateful to Interim Dean Sarah Anderson for her dedication, service, and leadership over the past year, and want to acknowledge the significant contributions that former Dean Steve Gaines has made to the Bren School throughout his tenure.
Sincerely,
Dennis Assanis, Chancellor
Dean of Bren School of Environmental Science and Management Search Advisory Committee
Mark Buntaine, Chair; Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Christopher Costello, Distinguished Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Kristine Faloon Duarte, Staff Representative; Executive Director of Student Services, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Shelly Gable, Susan and Bruce Worster Dean of Science; Professor, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Ben Halpern, Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management; NCEAS Director
Ashley Larsen, Associate Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Eric Masanet, Professor and Mellichamp Chair in Sustainability Science for Emerging Technologies, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Wesley Noble, Graduate Student Representative
David Pellow, Distinguished Professor and Dehlsen Chair, Environmental Studies Program
James Salzman, Distinguished Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Lynn Scarlett, Chair of the Dean’s Advisory Board; Managing Director, Public Policy at The Nature Conservancy
Samantha Stevenson-Karl, Associate Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Leah Stokes, Associate Professor, Political Science
Naomi Tague, Professor, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Consultant to the committee:
June Betancourt, Director of Policy Compliance, Academic Affairs