The acting director of the Women's Resource Center was selected last week as one of six finalists in the search for a permanent head of the center.
Sandra Spiegel was the only name released.
English Professor Ivy Schweitzer, who chaired the search committee, would not reveal the names of the other five finalists, but said the committee would make a final decision in May. The new director would assume leadership in June.
More than 100 people applied for the position, which was vacated last fall when Mary Childers took over as director of the Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office, Schweitzer said.
The committee has invited members of the short list to the College for interviews and meetings with various student groups before it chooses a new director, Schweitzer said.
Spiegel was a part-time outreach counselor at Dick's House, working primarily with the African-American community before assuming the interim position Fall term.
Prior to her positions at the College, Spiegel worked as a psychotherapist, a high school guidance counselor and a member of the Sexual Abuse Treatment Team, a social service organization in White River Junction, Vt.
The Center's director is in charge of planning programs and administering the center on a daily basis. The director also acts as a support person for female students at the College and reports directly to Dean of the College Lee Pelton and Dean of the Faculty James Wright, Spiegel said.
But after convening last fall, search committee members decided to change the job description to emphasize the interpersonal aspects of the position, Schweitzer said.
"The Center is looking for someone who can work well with students in mediation and intervention, has excellent communication and interpersonal skills and an ability to create innovative programs and to relate to people of diverse backgrounds," Schweitzer said.
Schweitzer emphasized that the new director will be instrumental in setting up multicultural programs to unite the different groups of women at the College, including lesbians, disabled women and women of color.
Both Childers and her predecessor Judith White went on to become special assistants to College Presidents - Childers at Dartmouth and White at Duke University.
"The position has served as a real stepping stone both in and out of the College," Schweitzer said.
Last term, the nine-person search committee began advertising the position in various national publications, including the Boston Globe, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Black Issues in Higher Education and Women's Review of Books, Schweitzer said.
The Center also advertised at graduate schools nationwide, on the women studies' electronic mail network and through the National Association of Women in Education, an organization involved in the search for the last director.
Beside Schweitzer, the search committee includes Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia; Associate Dean of Students Dan Nelson; Director of the Master of Liberal Arts Program Barbara Pringle; Dick's House Counselor Pat Arroyo; Coordinator of Women's Studies Anne Brooks; Environmental Studies Professor Andrew Friedland; and students Kristine Hong '95 and Nicole Reboe '95.
