The College of Liberal Arts recently appointed Janet Ward as director of interdisciplinary programs at UNLV. She will oversee the Asian studies, Latin American studies, cultural studies, linguistic studies, multidisciplinary studies, and social science studies programs.

"Dr. Ward brings a background of experience as a researcher and teacher that represents a diverse range of expertise from urban architecture to Germanic languages and culture," said Jim Frey, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. "She is a perfect fit for this position and will work with other faculty to solidify existing programs and to develop new interdisciplinary curriculums."

In addition to her administrative role, Ward is also an associate professor in the department of history and is currently teaching courses in the School of Architecture and in the Honors College.

"Interdisciplinary programs allow people to be informed by the best theoretical insights from a range of disciplines," said Ward. "I'm really looking forward to helping to promote UNLV's bold innovations in areas of interdisciplinary research and curricular design."

Ward previously worked at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she served as chair of the department of Germanic and Slavic languages and undergraduate associate chair of the department of comparative literature and humanities.

During her career, Ward has been awarded grants and fellowships for her research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the German Academic Exchange Service. Her book, "Weimar Surfaces: Urban Visual Culture in 1920s Germany," was published by the University of California Press in 2001. She is currently working on a book about the architecture of post-Wall Berlin.

Ward received a Ph.D. in German studies from the University of Virginia and a master's degree in comparative literature from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned a bachelor's degree in German and French from the University of London.