Carol Lancaster has been SFS Dean since April 2010 after serving as Interim Dean beginning in 2009.

Dean Lancaster has published numerous books and articles on the politics of foreign aid, the politics of development, and development in Africa including Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics (University of Chicago Press). Her most recent book is George Bush's Foreign Aid: Transformation or Chaos?, published by the Center for Global Development, Washington, D.C., 2008. She is a professor of politics and was previously the Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Africa.

Dean Lancaster serves on the board of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Vital Voices and the Society for International Development and is a trustee of the American University of Afghanistan and Nyumbani. She is a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development and currently co-editing a book on the politics of development.