Dean search aims for Spring decision

The search committee is now finally complete and on the hunt, seeking to make a final recommendation for the position of Dean of Student Life and Services by next semester's spring break.

Four weeks ago, Student Senate selected three students to join the committee as full-voting members. College junior Samuel Chung, college senior Laura Iverson and college senior Raquel Olivo joined three administrators and three faculty members on the committee.

The committee is conducting a national search for a replacement for previous Dean of Students Charlene Cole-Newkirk, who resigned last fall. Deb McNish is serving as interim dean.

The three student representatives were approved by Senate on the basis of application essays and interviews. According to senator junior Sarah Fineberg, students were chosen who were willing to represent the interests of many campus groups. "We looked for people who could listen," she said.

Senators are optimistic about the new search. "We're hoping to get a student's dean instead of just a dean of students," said Fineberg.

Senate will maintain informal contact with the student committee members and hopes to relay student concerns to them. "We're hoping we can serve as a resource for their work," Fineberg said. She said that students can communicate their opinions to the student committee members by e-mailing Senate or going to Senate office hours.

Now that the committee is fully staffed, its members have set about the task of clarifying the characteristics they are looking for in the next dean. Ray English, director of libraries and the chair of the committee, said that they are relying on information gleaned from all-campus discussion in the dean search of 1994 in order to formulate their desired profile of the new dean.

"We need somebody who will be a good administrator, who can think very imaginatively and creatively about student life programming, who can work well with people, who can communicate effectively with the entire campus community, who can be a strong advocate for students, and who can work well with the faculty," he said.

Student committee member Iverson refused to comment, saying English had been chosen as their spokesman.

Such a long list of qualifications promises a difficult search, and the committee is striving to build a strong applicant pool. The dean position has been advertised nationally in such publications as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Black Issues in Higher Education and The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education. In addition, committee members have contacted experienced deans at other institutions and sought suggestions for potential candidates.

The committee has received 68 applications thus far and expects many more. English refused to name any of the applicants, calling the information confidential.

The committee plans to first create a short-list of candidates, bring these candidates in for all-campus interviews, and then make a final recommendation to President Nancy Dye. Dye will make the final decision of who will be offered the position.