Assistant dean hired

Shilpa Davé will serve as Assistant Dean of Student Life and Services at Oberlin next fall. She accepted the search committee's offer early this week and is set to arrive in Oberlin on August 1.

"We're delighted as a search committee that she has accepted position at Oberlin," Gloria White, co-chair of the search committee, said.

According to White, Davé is going to be involved in directing the operations of the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) next year. She will also be working with Assistant Dean of Student Life and Services and MRC Supervisor Julia Nieves, a member of the search committee that picked her.

"I will be working with her closely and I'm looking forward to it," Nieves said. The MRC was looking for "somebody that's going to develop a vision," said Nieves.

"I just hope that we can really work as a team and help the MRC be as student-oriented as possible," Nieves said.

Others are just as excited. "I'm really excited about Shilpa's knowledge of Asian-American studies and issues facing Asian-American students," said Theo Copley, Student Life Intern at the MRC and also a member of the search committee.

"I would say that this is a positive step toward the institution of support for Asian-American students. I also think that [Davé's] knowledge of the field of Asian-American studies will help students in their efforts to create an Asian-American studies program at Oberlin," said Copley. Student leaders of the Asian-American community were also impressed with Davé.

"She's very friendly and outgoing," said Sue Chen, member of the search committee and co-chair of the Asian-American Alliance (AAA). "She's very well read on Asian-American issues and on post-colonial issues."

"We wanted someone who was aware of issues that face the Asian-American community in terms of retention rate, burnout rate and student activism," Chen said.

As a student, Chen said she was looking for someone who could relate to the student body. "We wanted someone who could work well with the students, who could draw the students towards them," she said.

She also said that the search committee wanted a candidate with at least five years of experience in student life oriented-work, a requirement Davé met - she currently serves as adviser to 700 English majors at the University of Michigan.

"I'm just very excited about next year with her coming in," said AAA co-chair Louis Sintasath. She will be "very good not only for the Asian-American community, but for the school in general," Sintasath said. "She seems to care a lot about students."