Do you have aspirations to be a college president?
I would sooner volunteer to be lobotomized.

Did you always want to do this?
When I was five years old I wanted to be a Dean of Students. No, that’s a lie. I came into administrative work rather accidentally and serendipitously. I had really prepared for a career as an anthropologist, but while completing my doctorate I got a taste of administrative work and discovered I liked it.

If you could be dean at another school what would it be?
I have occasionally thought it would be interesting to be a dean at a Quaker college where governance systems are consensus-based.

What have you found most interesting about Oberlin students?
The counter-culture is alive, and it’s living at Oberlin! It’s like being blasted back to my own college experiences of the early seventies. Actually what’s most interesting about Oberlin students is their willingness to take themselves seriously as intellectuals.
Intellectualism and artistic creativity are honored in the student culture of Oberlin to a degree that I have not encountered on any other college campus.

If you were a college student again would you go to Oberlin?
Oh yeah. I would for sure. I had lots of friends who were my contemporaries at Oberlin in the early seventies. I would most likely have been a Co-oper.

What was the last movie you saw?
“Catch Me if You Can,” which I thought was a satisfying movie in every way.

What have been your biggest challenges?
Reigning in budgets in ways that do not compromise the quality of students’ experiences at Oberlin.