Cora Marrett was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 26, 2011 to serve as deputy director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Previously, Marrett served as the assistant director for NSF’s Education and Human Resources (EHR) directorate from 2007 to 2009. While there, she led the directorate to support the NSF’s mission to achieve excellence in U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at all levels and in both formal and informal settings.
From 1992–1996, Marrett served as the NSF’s assistant director for social, behavioral and economic sciences (SBE). For her leadership in developing new research programs and articulating the scientific projects of this new directorate, Marrett received the NSF’s Distinguished Service Award. Prior to returning to the NSF in 2007, Marrett served as the University of Wisconsin’s senior vice president for academic affairs for six years. Before that, she served as senior vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst for four years.
Marrett holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Virginia Union University, and Master of Arts and doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all in sociology. She received an honorary doctorate from Wake Forest University in 1996, and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1998 and the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1996. She received an honorary doctorate from Virginia Union, her alma mater, in May 2011.
