Now that the College has found a replacement for outgoing President James Freedman, the search can begin for a new dean of the College to replace Lee Pelton.
According to Dean of the Faculty Edward Berger, who chairs the dean of the College search committee, the committee had its second meeting on Wednesday. Freedman and his successor, Provost James Wright, also attended the meeting.
The committee is putting together a description of the qualities they will be looking for in a new dean. Freedman and Wright both spoke to the committee about what they would like to see in a new dean, Freedman said.
In addition, the committee is developing lists of prospective candidates to call and ask to apply for the position, as well as preparing advertisements for various professional journals and Internet sites to solicit applicants and nominations of candidates, Berger said.
Freedman said he hopes the committee will be able to find a new dean of the College over the summer.
"It is my greatest hope that we would have a permanent dean by early in the fall," Freedman said. "My next greatest hope would be to have a new dean by January 1."
But the search committee is sailing "uncharted waters," Berger said, since a search for a major College official has never taken place during the summer.
Berger said the committee hopes to have a group of qualified nominees and candidates by mid-summer.
"We won't really know until we start getting responses," he said.
In the meantime, an acting dean will be needed to take over when Pelton leaves after Commencement to become president of Willamette University in Oregon.
Freedman and Wright will meet soon to choose an acting dean, Freedman said.
"I expect that we will have an announcement in the next several days," he said.
The dean of the College search committee consists of representatives from the faculty, administration and student body.
The administrators on the committee are Director of Alumni Relations Nelson Armstrong, College Counsel and Director of External Relations Cary Clark and Assistant Provost Sheila Culbert.
The faculty committee members are Religion Professor Susan Ackerman, History Professor Richard Kremer and Anthropology Professor Deborah Nichols.
Watt Boone '00, Frode Eilertsen '99 and Cara Mathews '99 are the student representatives.
