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Home » Discover Rackham » Anna K. Mapp Appointed Rackham Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Initiatives

Rackham Graduate School welcomes Anna K. Mapp as associate dean for academic programs and initiatives. Her appointment was approved today by the U-M Board of Regents. As associate dean, Mapp will have responsibility for relationships with Rackham programs in the biological and health sciences.

In her new position at Rackham, Mapp will work closely with master’s and Ph.D. degree-granting programs to promote academic excellence, cross-unit partnership, student recruitment, graduate career outcomes, and improved campus climate and student experience. In consultation with Dean Mike Solomon, Mapp will lead Rackham initiatives that will advance the vision and major goals of the graduate school, including coordinating Rackham’s Ph.D. Bridge and postdoctoral affairs programs.

“Professor Mapp will help us develop initiatives that support excellence in graduate education in the biological and health sciences and across campus,” Solomon says. “Her commitment to scholarship, student success, and diversity will be an asset to improving the quality of our programs and the experience of our students now and into the future.”

“Her commitment to scholarship, student success, and diversity will be an asset to improving the quality of our programs and the experience of our students now and into the future.”
—Dean Mike Solomon

A chemical biologist, Mapp uses novel chemical and biological strategies to improve our understanding of how gene transcription is regulated in the body. Her work has led to the discovery of drug-like molecules capable of reproducing the interactions of transient multi-protein complexes, critical elements of many biological processes. Her research has broad implications for the future of human health and could lead to new gene transcription-based medical therapies. Mapp’s work has been published in 75 research publications, including many of the leading journals in her field. She is also a founding associate editor of ACS Chemical Biology, the flagship chemical biology journal for the American Chemical Society, and a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Cancer Institute.

Mapp’s service at U-M goes far beyond her research. She has served in both leadership and support capacities on numerous planning, recruitment, advising, and diversity, equity, and inclusion committees. She is a current member of the Center for the Discovery of New Medicines review panel and DEI Strategic Planning Committee at the U-M Life Sciences Institute and is a current participant in the Chemistry-Biology Interface Training Grant.

As the recipient of the Class of 1923 Memorial Teaching Award, Department of Chemistry Distinguished Faculty Service Award, Rackham Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award, Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award, and Imes & Moore Mentorship Award, Mapp has repeatedly demonstrated a commitment to student success over the course of her career, a commitment she aims to bring to Rackham.

“As part of Rackham, I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows across much of the university,” Mapp says. “I believe strongly in the mission to create and sustain a climate for success for all and look forward to working on this every day.”

Mapp earned her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Bryn Mawr College in 1992 and her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1997. She joined the faculty of the U-M Department of Chemistry as an assistant professor in 2000 and was promoted to associate professor in 2006. She was promoted to professor and assumed leadership of the Chemical Biology Program in 2010. In 2013, Mapp joined the Life Sciences Institute as a research professor and was appointed Edwin Vedejs Collegiate Professor of Chemistry.