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Andrea “Andi” Wright and Charles “Chip” E. Lockwood will serve as the new resident deans of Eliot House and Adams House, respectively, Dean of Students Katherine G. O’Dair announced to Harvard College staff in a Tuesday email.

Resident deans act as the principal link between undergraduates and College administrators. Among other duties, they serve as students’ academic advisers, represent students before disciplinary bodies like the Honor Council and the Administrative Board, and fulfill various administrative responsibilities.

“I encourage each of you to reach out to our new Allston Burr Resident Deans to welcome them to this great community,” O’Dair wrote.

While completing his Ph.D. program in religion at Harvard, Lockwood was a resident tutor in Adams for six years until 2015. He taught as a lecturer for the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard and served as its assistant director of undergraduate studies, O’Dair wrote. Lockwood will succeed Adam Muri-Rosenthal in the Adams resident deanship, which Muri-Rosenthal held for five years.

Adams House Faculty Dean Judith S. Palfrey wrote in an email Tuesday that Lockwood “combines all of the attributes of a great [resident dean].”

“He is a distinguished scholar, a caring counselor and a community builder,” Palfrey wrote. “We are really looking forward to having Chip, his wife Meg and son Charlie returning to Adams.”

Wright earned her Ph.D. in anthropology at Brown University. She also coordinated programs at Brown’s Sarah Doyle Center for Women and Gender and served as a mentor for first-generation and low-income graduate students, according to O’Dair’s email. Wright will be taking over the deanship from Katy Leonard, who held the position for the past two years.

Eliot House Faculty Dean Gail A. O’Keefe wrote in an email Tuesday that she and her co-Faculty Dean Douglas Melton are “delighted” that Wright will be joining the House.

“Her previous experience is well suited to the role of [resident dean], and our interviews with her this spring convinced us that her attitude and enthusiasm would perfectly suit our House,” O’Keefe wrote.

Lockwood and Wright did not respond to a request for comment.

Though resident deans act as half-time faculty members, conducting classes and giving lectures, their duties have grown increasingly administrative in the past few decades. The role drew controversy in 2013 when then-Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds conducted secret searches of resident deans’ email accounts.

In 2014, former Interim Dean of the College Donald H. Pfister approved a number of changes to the resident dean position. The administrators were renamed Allston Burr House deans, required to have earned a Ph.D., and were formally relieved of teaching responsibilities during their first semester in the role.

In December 2017, O’Dair changed resident deans’ title back to “Allston Burr Resident Deans” — marking the fourth time administrators revised the title in over a decade. The decision to revert to an older title reflected widespread confusion about the previous title of “Allston Burr Assistant Dean,” O’Dair said at the time.

Lockwood and Wright’s terms officially took effect on July 1, according to College spokesperson Aaron Goldman.

—Staff writer Sanjana L. Narayanan can be reached at sanjana.narayanan@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Samuel W. Zwickel can be reached at samuel.zwickel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @samuel_zwickel.