Astrida orle tantillo biography

Professor Tantillo served as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2010-2022 before retiring from the Department in 2023.
Astrida Orle Tantillo, PhD, Dean Emerita, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of Germanic Studies and History.
“Astrida is a proven leader, fundraiser, and scholar with a wealth of experience managing a complex organization,” said Robert A. Holland, Chair.

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Astrida Orle Tantillo, PhD

About

Professor Tantillo served as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2010-2022 before retiring from the Department in 2023. Up until her retirement, she taught courses on 18th-century German culture and history of science and is the author of three books, Goethe’s Modernisms (Continuum, 2010), The Will to Create: Goethe’s Philosophy of Nature (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2002), and Goethe’s Elective Affinities and the Critics (Camden House, 2001).

She also served as the president of the Goethe Society of North America and is the founding editor of the book series (co-sponsored by the Goethe Society of North America and Bucknell University Press) on “Goethe and His Age.”

Selected Publications

“The Catholicism of Werther.” German Quarterly 81 (2008): 408-23.

“Werther, Frankenstein, and Girardian Mediated Desire.” Studia Neophilologica 80 (2008): 133-43.

“Damned to Heaven: The Tragedy of Faust Revisited.” Monatshefte, 99 (2007): 454-468.

“The Subjective Eye: Goethe’s Farb

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Meet the Staff: Astrida Orle Tantillo

Astrida Orle Tantillo joined the Newberry as our tenth President and Librarian on December 1. In this installment of Meet the Staff, she talks about her history with the Newberry, the state of the humanities, and what the Newberry offers to contemporary and future audiences.

How did you first encounter the Newberry?

The first in-depth encounter I had was as an assistant professor teaching a graduate-level German literature course at the University of Illinois Chicago. I was looking for a way to make the eighteenth century feel more tangible and alive to my students, and I knew the Newberry had opportunities to bring classes for collection presentations with its curators. The presentation was absolutely amazing–it really brought the period to life for the students. The curators highlighted aspects of the objects, including features of the graphic designs, illustrations, the composition materials of the books themselves, the history of their printing, etc. so that suddenly, the students had a new way into the past. As a result, they wer

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Astrida Orle Tantillo Named President and Librarian of the Newberry Library

The Newberry Library is pleased to announce the appointment of Astrida Orle Tantillo as its tenth President and Librarian. Tantillo was named following an international search that employed the executive search firm Isaacson, Miller. She joins the Newberry from the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), where she served as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) from 2012 to 2022 and is currently Professor of Germanic Studies and History. As Dean, Tantillo oversaw a budget of $100 million, 25 academic departments and programs, approximately 700 tenure and non-tenure track faculty members, and more than 200 staff members. She was recruited to the Newberry's Board of Trustees in 2022 due to her extensive experience in academic administration in Chicago.

During her tenure, LAS supported a variety of new centers and initiatives, including the Freshwater Lab, an interdisciplinary freshwater policy and research initiative; the Inter-University Program for Latino Research/UIC Mellon Fellows Progr