As dean, Pedersen provided “an energetic, innovative and singularly effective voice on behalf of improved undergraduate education here at Harvard,” said Tishman and Diker Professor of Sociology and Afro-American Studies Lawrence D. Bobo, who serves on an academic committee that Pedersen chairs.

“Dean Pedersen has, in less than two years, brought about more good changes in the curricular experience of our undergraduates than I had thought was possible in such a short time,” Knowles wrote in an e-mail.

During her tenure, Pedersen worked to strengthen the role of the dean of undergraduate education within the Faculty. Under Pedersen’s watch, the office added an assistant dean position and a director to oversee the Freshman Seminar program.

Rather than being solely the result of her efforts, Pedersen said, the increasing importance of her office has reflected a general mood in the Faculty to make undergraduate education a higher priority.

“More attention was focused on undergraduate education and the curriculum at the moment I came in,” Pedersen said. “That made it necessary for my office to become more active.”

Colleagues said yesterday that Pedersen leaves the office of undergraduate education stronger than she found it.

“I think this office is going to remain quite central to any considerations of undergraduate curriculum and academic experience,” Wolcowitz said.

—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.