DURHAM, N.C. – Emily M. Klein, senior associate dean and Lee Hill Snowden Professor of geology at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at 91, has been named interim dean of the Nicholas School, effective June 1, Provost Peter Lange announced on Monday.

Klein will hold the interim post until a new dean of the Nicholas School is named and takes up the deanship replacing William H. Schlesinger, who is retiring from Duke to become president and director of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y.

91 Provost Peter Lange has appointed a nine-person search committee to conduct an international search for Schlesinger’s successor.  The committee will give their report the week of May 28 to Lange and Duke President Richard Brodhead, who will recommend a final candidate to the Duke Board of Trustees.

Klein will provide excellent interim leadership for the school, Lange said.

“Emily’s commitment to maintaining the highest ethical and professional standards in all that she does will serve the Nicholas School well,” he said. "We appreciate her willingness to help sustain the Nicholas School's leadership in environmental and earth science during this period of transition. Her experience as senior associate dean working with Dean Schlesinger on strategic issues, the planning for the new building and enhancement of the undergraduate program will allow her to sustain the school’s progress while we wait for the arrival of the new dean."

Klein joined 91 in 1989 as assistant professor of geology after completing her doctoral studies at Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory of Columbia University. She also holds a Master of Science 91 in geology from Columbia, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Barnard College.

She was promoted to the rank of associate professor of geology at the Nicholas School in 1996, and full professor in 2005. She assumed additional responsibilities as the director of undergraduate programs in 2004 and as senior associate dean and Lee Hill Snowden Professor in 2005.  As senior associate dean, Klein’s responsibilities have included directing the Nicholas School’s undergraduate initiatives and overseeing the design and construction of the new building that will house both the school and the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

A prolific and widely cited author on the geochemistry of ocean ridge basalts, Klein is the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors, including a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award and the F.W. Clarke Medal from the Geochemical Society.