Behzad Mortazavi was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) at Syracuse University in July 2023. In this role, he leads Syracuse University’s largest and most academically diverse college, comprising more than 380 faculty across 17 disciplines and nine centers and institutes.

Dean Mortazavi launched an ambitious vision to position A&S at the forefront of addressing society's most urgent questions. In 2025, he unveiled a comprehensive five-year Academic Strategic Plan reflecting the contributions of faculty, staff and alumni and built around four areas of distinctive focus: Climate Change and the Environment; Health and Well-being; Culture, Community and Change; and Innovative Technologies. This bold interdisciplinary framework charts a course for A&S to generate real-world impact through research, teaching and community engagement that will help solve the grand challenges facing our world.

Under his leadership, A&S has achieved significant milestones. Dean Mortazavi oversaw the launch of several groundbreaking research centers, including the Institute for Quantum and Information Science, the Center for Behavioral Health Research and Innovation and the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy and Astrophysics. And he has strengthened the College's academic foundation by creating new endowed professorships that include the Kathy and Stan Walters Endowed Professor of Quantum Science and the Backer Professor of Jewish Studies. His focus on student success has yielded measurable results, with A&S student retention rising to record levels. He also expanded health-related offerings through the new Department of Human Development and Family Science.

Dean Mortazavi has built strong operational and governance structures, with the formation of high-performance leadership teams. He inaugurated the A&S Research and Scholarship Gala to celebrate faculty excellence, and champions numerous initiatives to support faculty research, student experiential learning and community partnerships.

Before joining Syracuse, Mortazavi served as chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama (UA) from 2018 to 2023, where he oversaw more than 40 faculty and nearly 2,000 undergraduate students. During his tenure, he hired numerous faculty members, led a successful fundraising campaign and stewarded a comprehensive strategic planning process.

His research specializes in biogeochemical cycles—from headwater streams and large rivers to estuaries, salt marshes and coastal oceans, with an interdisciplinary approach to field-laboratory environmental research that engages oceanographers, hydrologists, microbial ecologists and plant physiologists.

Mortazavi’s recent research on coastal marsh dynamics in Mobile Bay, located off the Gulf of Mexico, analyzed satellite and aerial imagery from 1984-2019, revealing approximately 30% loss of saltwater marshes over three decades due to sea level rise and urbanization—findings with significant policy implications for coastal ecosystem protection and restoration. He has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications, secured more than $2 million in federal research funding and served as a program director for the National Science Foundation.

Mortazavi earned his Ph.D. in biological oceanography from Florida State University and holds degrees in biology, marine ecology and biological oceanography from the Université de P. & M. Curie in Paris, France.