Acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears will not apply to serve as permanent Dean of the College, Spears said in an interview with The Dartmouth Editorial Board on Thursday. Spears will vacate the position when her two-year appointment ends on June 30, she said.
Spears "carefully considered" a host of factors before coming to a decision, she said.
"We all have commitments that inform our professional decision-making," Spears said.
While has no definite plans to fulfill another role at the College, Spears said she would consider remaining at Dartmouth in a different position after her tenure as acting dean terminates.
"I don't know in what capacity it would be, but I wouldn't rule it out," Spears said.
While Spears said she contemplated the possibility of applying for the permanent dean of the College position, she ultimately decided in December that she would not submit her name for consideration.
"When I was in the role, I functioned as a full-fledged, fully authorized dean of the College," she said. "I still have 25 percent of my tenure left. I have no intention of being a lame duck dean. There's lots of work to be done."
The next dean should be "extremely dynamic and capable," College President Jim Yong Kim said in an interview with The Dartmouth Editorial Board on Thursday.
"In Hanover, student life is so critical we want someone who is extremely innovative and able to communicate extremely well with students and extremely well with faculty," Kim said. "I'm looking for someone who first and foremost has fire in the belly to do this job extremely well."
The new dean should be someone who "do exciting things with student life," and not simply act as a caretaker, Kim said.
A 10-member search committee comprised of student leaders, professors and administrators will select a new dean, The Dartmouth previously reported. Dean of the Faculty Michael Mastanduno will chair the committee, Provost Carol Folt said in a campus-wide e-mail on Wednesday.
The search committee will "probably" work with a search firm to help select applicants, Kim said. The committee will present the names of three to five candidates to Kim and Folt, who will then interview the candidates before the new dean is ultimately hired.
"Our job now is to make it clear that it's a fantastic opportunity for anybody," Kim said.
Spears said the College should look for a new dean who has both "strong leadership skills and financial acumen" and "the ability to relate to and engage with students."
While serving as acting dean of the College, Spears worked to design and implement new policies and initiatives to reduce alcohol and sexual abuse at the College, The Dartmouth previously reported.
The most recent initiatives including a nighttime safety shuttle, new training programs and revised Social Events and Management Procedures will go into effect later in January, although administrators may further change the policies after assessing them over Winter term, Spears previously told The Dartmouth.
The next dean will continue these initiatives that combat alcohol-related harm and sexual assault, Spears said. She described these issues as challenges with which every college grapples.
Spears said she was proud of her restructuring of the Dean of the College's office, which saved $600,000, and her decision to make the division "more functionally aligned and better able to serve Dartmouth students." Spears also cited the implementation of the First-Year Summer Enrichment Plan, which helps students who did not attend high schools with college preparatory curricula more easily transition to Dartmouth, as one of the programs she was able to institute while acting as dean.
Spears described the recent budget cutbacks as among the more difficult undertakings of her tenure.
"When someone comes in and tells you have to cut $1.5 million, those are the challenging days," Spears said. "[The experience] allowed me to stretch and grow my leadership skills."
Spears said she plans to continue implementing changes in her remaining 180 days as acting dean of the College.
"The next thing I want to see complete before I leave is phase-one changes to the advising [program]," Spears said.
Spears said she will work with the incoming dean to ensure a smooth transition. If Spears is still present on campus when the new dean is appointed, she said that she hopes to support and counsel her successor just as former Dean of the College Thaddeus Seymour advised her.
Spears was originally tapped for her current position after former Dean of the College Tom Crady announced his resignation in Aug. 2009, The Dartmouth previously reported. Spears assumed the role under the assumption that there would be a national search process at the end of her two-year tenure, The Dartmouth previously reported.
The Dean of the College reports directly the provost and oversees student support services, counseling services, campus life programs, dining services, health services, judicial affairs and campus safety.
Spears served as director of the Office of Pluralism and Leadership as well as acting senior associate Dean of the College before she was named acting dean.
