ITHACA, N.Y. -- Cindy Hazan, associate professor of human development at Cornell University, has been named professor and dean of the Carl Becker House on West Campus, President Jeffrey S. Lehman announced. Becker House is the second of five residential houses for upper-level students being built as part of Cornell's West Campus House System.

Hazan was selected by members of the West Campus Council search committee, which is composed of staff, faculty and students. The committee was co-chaired by Edna Dugan, assistant vice president of student and academic services, and Vice Provost Isaac Kramnick.

Of the appointment, Hazan says: "I was convinced early on that the West Campus initiative would greatly enhance the educational experience of our students, and I am deeply honored to have been selected for this leadership role. I will do my best to foster an intellectual environment that embodies the values of scholarship and mentorship exemplified by Professor Becker's contributions to undergraduate life at Cornell."

Becker, a prominent cultural and intellectual historian, taught in Cornell's Department of History from 1917 through 1941 and served as the university historian from 1941 until his death in 1945. The Carl Becker House, officially named in May, will be home to 360 upper-level students and is slated to open in August 2005.

Hazan joined the Cornell faculty in 1988 and has served on the West Campus Council for the past four years. She has received Cornell teaching or advising awards nearly every year, including the Omicron Nu Distinguished Teaching Award (1990), the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching (1991), Merrill Presidential Scholar Designation (1992, 2003), acknowledgement from the Cornell Interfraternity and Panhellenic Council (1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000), honorary membership in Kappa Omicron Nu (1999), the Kappa Omicron Nu Award for Excellence in Advising (2000) and the Kendall S. Carpenter Memorial Advising Award (2002).

Hazan's research focuses on human mating and pair bonding. She is mentor to eight to 10 undergraduates in her lab every semester, and 600 students enroll each year for Hazan's undergraduate course on interpersonal relationships.The entire West Campus residential system, including a community recreation center, is scheduled for completion in 2009. The first house will open this August and is named for the late Alice H. Cook, a noted professor in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the university's first ombudsman. Ross Brann, the Milton R. Konvitz Professor of Judeo-Islamic Studies and chair of the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell is Cook House professor and dean.