Wanted: A strong leader with effective communication skills, great management skills, sound judgment, experience in policy and knowledge of university environments. Enjoying working with students and parents a plus.
A newly established search committee will examine applicants for the University's dean of students position in the hopes of finding these qualities as they begin a selection process this week that is designed to include student input.
The office was vacated when former Dean of Students Penny Rue left last summer; Interim Dean of Students Allen Groves is currently filling the position.
"It will be a national search ... listed through several national publications, including the Chronicle of Higher Education," said Pat Lampkin, vice president for student affairs.
Lampkin said the search committee expects to begin reviewing candidates by the middle of February and she hopes the new dean will start the first of July.
According to Lampkin, the committee will look for candidates with strong backgrounds in higher education and student issues.
"I want them to have a strong understanding of college student issues, a university environment and higher education, as well as be open to a diversity of thought and able to work with a diverse population of students, faculty, staff and parents," Lampkin said.
She added that the committee will look for applicants who have an understanding of and will be able to work within the University's system of student self-governance.
Lampkin declined to give specific names of possible candidates, saying that the search "depended on the strength of the candidates" and not a predetermined list.
Groves had previously commented to The Cavalier Daily that he would analyze the situation during Winter Break and decide whether he would elect to be considered for the position. Yesterday he declined to comment about the search, saying only that he considered the subject a "personnel matter" he felt he should not discuss.
The search committee for the dean of students is comprised of faculty members and students chosen in part for their ability to asses what would make a good dean, Lampkin said. Members include Committee Chair Maurice Apprey, dean of the Office of African-American Affairs; Officer Yong Bacon of the University Police Department; Chemistry Prof. Bob Burnett; Ariel Gomez, vice president for research and graduate studies; and Susan Davis, special advisor in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs. Graduate student Tom Garvey and fourth-year students Lauren Tilton and Nick Jordan are also on the committee.
According to Lampkin, the committee will begin inviting candidates to Grounds after Spring Break. Each candidate will hold public meetings that will likely consist of a presentation followed by a question and answer session, she said. Audience members will then be invited to fill out evaluation forms on the candidates. Lampkin added that after the public meetings, groups of students, who have not yet been selected, will interview the candidates for the position.
"We want to be sure and listen to what students think too," Lampkin said, emphasizing the role students will have in the selection process.
Students asked about the search said they hoped the new dean would be open to more interaction with students.
"I hope that whoever the new dean is commits themselves to getting to know students," said third-year College student Ashi Soni. "[The Dean could] maybe have some lunches or dinners for students to explain what role the dean of students has in their lives.
Soni said the new dean should work to establish direct contact with students to keep them informed about the dean's position in the community.
"Right now we don't approach the dean, because we don't know what they are there for," Soni said.
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