History Professor Lizabeth Cohen has been selected as Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the University announced Thursday. Cohen, who currently serves as the acting dean of the Institute, previously served as the chair of Harvard’s history department and Director of the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History.

“In my eight months as interim dean, I have learned how much the institute has to offer—advancing the research of Harvard faculty and students, providing intellectual invigoration to our interdisciplinary fellows, sustaining the world’s preeminent research library on the history of women, and pursuing programs to share this wealth of new knowledge with wider audiences close to home and increasingly around the world,” said Cohen in a statement.

In a statement, University President Drew G. Faust, who served as the Dean of Radcliffe prior to ascending to the presidency, praised Cohen’s academic prowess and leadership abilities.

“Liz Cohen is a distinguished and imaginative scholar with a deep knowledge of Radcliffe and Harvard and a strong dedication to Radcliffe’s pursuit of new ideas and collaborations across the academic disciplines, the professions, and the creative arts,” said Faust in a statement. “[A]s interim dean she has already strengthened Radcliffe’s ties to people and programs across Harvard and beyond.”

Radcliffe, which maintains a focus on the study of women and gender, is an interdisciplinary institute that fosters academic studies in a number of different fields.

“The Radcliffe Institute was my first Harvard home,” Faust said a statement. “I know from experience what an important role it has to play [both] within and beyond the University.”

—Staff writer Justin C. Worland can be reached at jworland@college.harvard.edu.