Adrian Randolph, the dean who hired 41% of Weinberg College's current faculty and oversaw four new majors, will leave the role at the end of the 2026-27 academic year.

Provost Kathleen Hagerty announced Randolph's departure on Wednesday, June 24, calling him "a deep thinker and an effectual doer" whose contributions made Northwestern better. Randolph has led the university's largest academic division — roughly 60 departments and interdisciplinary programs spanning the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences — since 2015.

During his tenure, Randolph hired 274 continuing faculty members and personally reviewed every appointment, reappointment, tenure, and promotion file. He helped establish 14 endowed chairs and guided the college's first comprehensive curriculum revision in decades. The four majors launched under his leadership: Asian American Studies, Global Health Studies, Data Science, and Environmental Policy and Culture.

Randolph, himself a first-generation college student, also championed the Arch Scholars Program supporting first-generation and lower-income students through academic preparation, research, and mentoring.

"It has been and continues to be both a pleasure and an honor to serve as dean," Randolph said in the university's announcement. "Working alongside our exceptional faculty, students, staff, alumni and supporters has been the experience of a lifetime."

Before joining Northwestern, Randolph served as associate dean of the faculty for the arts and humanities at Dartmouth College, where he chaired the Department of Art History and directed the Leslie Center for the Humanities. He is an art historian specializing in medieval and Renaissance Italy and was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2022.

Northwestern will launch a search for Randolph's successor at a later date. No timeline has been announced.

His departure adds to a period of leadership transition at Evanston's largest employer. Interim President Henry Bienen, who returned to the role last fall, is serving alongside Hagerty as the university navigates its presidential search.