The dean of the College search committee completed its first phase of interviews with nine applicants out of a pool of 53 and is currently re-interviewing a subset of the original interviewees, wrote Marisa Quinn, vice president of public affairs and University relations, in an email to The Herald.
The candidate chosen will take over the position from Margaret Klawunn, vice president for campus life and student services, who became interim dean after former Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron left in December to become president of Connecticut College.
Provost Mark Schlissel P’15, who previously chaired the committee, handed the reins to President Christina Paxson after announcing his departure in January. The original plan had been for the search committee to select three finalists, whom Paxson would then interview, The Herald previously reported.
Now that there is a provost search as well, Paxson has taken a more active role in the process, wrote Emma Dickson ’16, a committee member, in an email to The Herald.
Due to the change in leadership, the committee is “a little behind where we’re projected to be, but not decisively,” said Professor of Economics Andrew Foster, a committee member.
Paxson said the committee has not yet presented her with its final recommendations for the position.
“We have a great pool, and I mean that seriously, it’s a very strong pool,” said Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences Sheila Blumstein, a committee member who served as dean of the College from 1987 to 1995. “We’ve been working hard at narrowing it down.”
The committee meets once a week on average, she said. “We’re working to do this as quickly as possible” without rushing or making mistakes, she added.
Foster said he is looking for someone with the ability to work well with students and faculty members as well as in the broader world.
“The student members have been terrific on helping us understand things from their perspective,” he said.
During deliberations, Dickson expressed her desire to find an applicant that “looks at both Brown and undergraduates holistically,” she wrote.
The new dean should see how the College fits into the University as a whole and recognize students’ interests and engagements in and out of the classroom, she added.
The dean of the College search now ties into the provost search, Paxson said.
“My hope is that we can move quickly on the provost search so that those decisions will be made roughly at the same time,” Paxson said, adding this will allow the finalists for each post to meet and begin to form a working relationship.
Both searches should come to a conclusion in April, she said.
-With additional reporting by Joseph Zappa
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