English Professor Cleopatra Mathis will replace two professors who are stepping down as faculty associates of the East Wheelock Supercluster beginning in Fall term.
Mathis will replace French and Italian Professor Marianne Hirsch and History Professor Leo Spitzer, who announced last month they will step down after this term to pursue academic interests.
Mathis, who will hold the position for three years, said she is looking forward to being the faculty associate, because working directly with students has been her "focus all along at Dartmouth for the past 15 years."
Mathis said she told Dean of the College Lee Pelton she was interested in the position last year, and "because I like working with students so much, I think he kept me in mind for the job when [Spitzer and Hirsch] decided they needed to get back to other things."
The East Wheelock Program interests Mathis, because it is a way for students and faculty to interact in a more informal way than in the classroom, Mathis said.
In a prepared statement, College President James Freedman said he thinks Mathis "will bring a fusion of her own ideas and energy into the program."
The East Wheelock Supercluster is part of the Dartmouth Experience plan initiated by Dean of the College Lee Pelton Fall term. It is comprised of Andres, Morton and Zimmerman residence halls, as well as a faculty house outside the cluster. Cluster Dean Steven Cornish also has an office in the cluster.
The goal of the plan is to generate a "marriage of intellectual and social life at Dartmouth," Pelton previously told The Dartmouth.
Mathis will live in the faculty associate's house outside the Supercluster at 13 East Wheelock Street with her husband, Film Studies Professor and screenwriter William Phillips, her 17-year-old daughter and her fourth-grade son.
