Despite the College's current fiscal challenges, several academic departments are hiring new professors to replace departing faculty, according to several professors interviewed by The Dartmouth. The decisions to fill the vacant positions were approved before the current round of budget cuts was announced last month, the professors said.
The English department recently hired Brett Gamboa to be a new professor in Shakespearean studies, according to English professor Jonathan Crewe, who chaired the search committee. Gamboa, who pursued his doctorate at Harvard University, will begin teaching in the Fall of 2010 and will fill the position vacated by Peter Saccio, who retired in 2005.
Crewe said he was initially worried recent budget cuts could prevent the department from hiring Gamboa.
"We were relieved the hiring went through," Crewe said, adding that the "long-standing decision" to fill Saccio's position likely enabled the department to hire Gamboa.
After reviewing over 200 applicants, interviewing 12 candidates and watching presentations by three finalists, the committee chose Gamboa partially because his experience as a Shakespearian actor supplements his academic analysis of Shakespeare and made him "fresh, appealing and original," Crewe said.
In addition to Gamboa, the English department has extended an offer to another professor, although the position has not yet been formalized, Darsie Riccio, the department administrator, said.
The government department also hired one new faculty member, according to department chair John Carey. Brian Greenhill, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Washington, will join the Dartmouth faculty to teach international relations starting next Fall term, Carey said.
Greenhill's research focuses on the impact of globalization on human rights, according to the University's web site. Carey said Greenhill is "very interesting" and added that he was "excited" for Greenhill's arrival.
The government department is currently considering several candidates for a vacant post in comparative politics, Carey said.
By hiring two new faculty members, the department is compensating for the departure of two professors in similar fields of study, Carey said. The new hires were not affected by budget cuts because they were planned before the 2010-2011 budget was announced.
The history department recently conducted faculty searches for positions in Middle Eastern and European intellectual history following the announcements that professors Gene Garthwaite and Michael Ermarth will retire at the end of the next academic year, according to department chair Margaret Darrow.
The search processes, which began last summer, were not affected by budget cuts, Darrow said. The department has extended offers to two candidates and expects to hear back within several weeks, she said.
Deborah Nichols, the chair of the anthropology department, said her department is currently evaluating three finalists for a position in biological anthropology and expects a decision to be made in about a month. The decision to hire a new professor also came before recent budget cuts were announced and was sparked by professor Ken Korey's retirement one year ago and the announcement that professors Hoyt Alverson and Kirk Endicott will retire in a year, Nichols said.
Hiring a biological anthropologist will allow the department to offer more courses in the subject, Nichols said. There is currently only one full-time biological anthropologist in the department, according to Nichols, and this causes full enrollment in the classes that are offered on the subject. Nichols also said she wanted to see the "overlaps" and "intersects" between medical and biological anthropology research.
"I'm sure whoever we get will be very good because all the candidates are," she said.
The anthropology department will likely search for a professor of archaeology next year to fill another vacant position, Nichols said.
The psychological and brain sciences department recently hired a faculty member in social psychology and currently has a pending offer for a position in cognitive psychology, according to a member of the department's staff who wished to remain anonymous, citing the ongoing discussions. Jay Hull, chair of the department, could not be reached for comment by press time.
There is an open search for a faculty member in the philosophy department, according to a member of the department's staff. Department chair Samuel Levey could not be reached for comment.
