Xiao-Li Meng, Ph.D., the Whipple V.N. Jones Professor of Statistics and chair of the Department of Statistics, has been named dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) at Harvard University, effective Aug. 15.

As Statistics Department chair since 2004, Meng has overseen a dramatic expansion of the department, as the number of undergraduate concentrators has grown from a single digit to more than 70, and the department’s core undergraduate courses have surged in popularity. He also has worked closely with alumni and alumnae to raise funds to establish the first endowed biennial distinguished teaching lecture series, junior faculty/teaching fellow awards (David Pickard Memorial Fund), and graduate student research awards (Art Dempster Fund) in statistics.

Born in Shanghai, Meng received a B.S. in mathematics (1982) and a diploma in graduate study of mathematical statistics (1986), both from Fudan University in Shanghai. He received his Ph.D. in statistics from Harvard in 1990. From 1991 to 2001, when he came to Harvard, Meng was assistant, associate, and then full professor in the Department of Statistics at the University of Chicago. He remains affiliated with the University of Chicago as a faculty member of its Center for Health Statistics.

沪江英语快讯：近日，哈佛大学宣布：哈佛大学统计系主任、教授孟晓犁被正式提名为哈佛大学文理研究生院的新任永久院长，自8月15日起生效。这是首位出任世界顶尖大学研究生院院长的华人学者。

孟晓犁，1963年出生于上海，1978年考入复旦大学数学系。1982年本科毕业后，1984－1986年继续在复旦大学数学研究所概率统计研究生班学习。毕业后，前往美国求学，并于1990年获得哈佛大学统计学博士学位。此后，他先后在芝加哥大学和哈佛大学统计系任教。2004年，孟晓犁出任哈佛大学统计系主任，成为哈佛大学首位出任系主任的、来自中国大陆的学者。

孟晓犁多次返回母校复旦大学，并为在复旦与哈佛间加强学术交流与全面合作做出了巨大的努力。可是，他一直坚持说，自己仍是个复旦人，“这里是我事业起步的地方”，“那段时间正好是我成长发育的时候，所以我的文学、艺术方面的兴趣爱好也是在这里培养的，很多人生观也是这么确立的。”