College President James Freedman and acting Provost Bruce Pipes met with the faculty of Amos Tuck School of Business Administration last week to discuss a search process to replace Tuck Dean Edward Fox.
Fox resigned March 25 and said he will leave the school Aug. 31, when his four-year term as dean expires. He was denied a second term following what administrators called "a standard review."
Pipes said the new dean will "most probably" come from within the school.
Pipes said each faculty member will be asked to submit a list of his or her top three choices for the new dean. The Provost's Office will then tabulate the results and the top "two or three" will be sent back to the faculty for a vote.
He said he hopes to have the results of the first ranking within two weeks but did not know when the final decision on the interim dean would be made.
Last week's announcement of Fox's resignation has Tuck faculty speculating about the reasons behind his unexpected departure plans.
"I guess I am distressed that I don't know why ... I am interested in what is going on," Professor of Business Administration William Emmons said.
"It adds to my disappointment that I don't know why Ed resigned. It would be entirely appropriate to have the College administration let us know what's going on," he said.
John Shank, a managerial accounting and management control professor, said "It was a shock. Boom! All at once we get this letter. Deans come and go. His departure - it's intriguing; it's good, gossipy news."
The majority of the review process involved the solicitation of faculty, student and administration opinion about Fox, Pipes said. He added that Freedman made the final decision.
Some speculated that the decision not to re-appoint Fox was due to bad relations between the dean and the faculty, but Fox said this was not the case, despite acknowledging that there were those who disagreed with him.
Fox denied there was a falling out with Freedman or acting-Provost Bruce Pipes and added, "I don't knows where [the idea] comes from."
Freedman could not be reached for comment. Other top administrators, including Pipes and Fox, were reluctant to provide details of the review process.
