As Boston University enters its first semester in more than three years with a permanent president and provost, the university is looking to fill other holes still left in the administrative landscape — including the College of Fine Arts and College of Engineering dean positions.
According to Assistant Provost Sue Kennedy, at this time the university is only searching for a permanent ENG dean. There is no CFA dean search currently underway.
“The timetable [for selection] is dependent on the candidates we see,” she said. “We want the best person we can find.”
According to ENG dean ad interim Sol Eisenberg, the Dean Search Advisory Committee “has been established and begun its work.”
The committee, led by manufacturing department chairman Thomas Bifano includes engineering, medical, mathematics and journalism professors, as well as Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences dean Gloria Waters and ENG student government president Christina Rodriguez. The committee members were appointed before the semester break.
This is a “search committee representative of the body of the school,” according to BU spokesman Colin Riley.
Bifano said in an email he and his colleagues are still in the early stages of the search, “placing ads and generating a job description.” They are looking both within the university and to outside institutions for possible candidates.
As for the type of person the committee is searching for, Bifano and the committee expect a leader with “records of achievement in engineering education and scholarship.”
“Successful candidates will exhibit a leadership style and vision suited to a small, distinguished College of Engineering that is part of a large, private, urban university,” he said. “We seek a person committed to excellence in our college’s educational and scholarly works and passionate about our future.
“Finally, all candidates should demonstrate the highest degree of personal integrity, and should be sensitive to issues of diversity and equity,” Bifano continued.
Eisenberg, who is not a candidate for the position, previously taught a variety of classes within the college. During his tenure, he said he has witnessed the opening of the Ingall’s Engineering Resource Center in September — a measure taken to strengthen the engineering community.
“I’ve only been dean ad interim for three months,” he said, “but we have been working hard to maintain the college’s forward momentum. Part of that has been building a stronger sense of community among our engineering students, particularly among the undergraduates.”
The college also hosted a series of informal breakfast gatherings for students and faculty from all four of the college’s departments.
“These were designed to give students a chance to connect informally with each other and with these professors,” Eisenberg said. “We’re looking to build on that during the spring semester.”
Aerospace and mechanical engineering department chairman John Baillieul said Eisenberg’s performance during the past three months has been beneficial to the college.
“He has extremely good relations with everyone,” he said. “He’s a low-key guy. He takes things seriously, but has a good sense of humor. He’s the best choice they could have made.”
Eisenberg said the placement of a permanent president and provost has helped to strengthen all of the university, especially the College of Engineering, a field where Brown and Campbell have experience.
“President Brown has initiated a strategic planning process that involves all of the academic units at the university,” he said. “Thus, we are in the midst of a strategic planning process for the College of Engineering to set priorities and directions for the next decade.
“I think all of us at the college will be looking for the next dean to build upon this progress and take us to the next stage of excellence,” he continued.
Meissner has been in his temporary position at CFA for more than three years.
He said he is not sure whether he will become the permanent dean, as the university is “in the midst of a strategic planning initiative under Dr. Brown’s leadership.”
“The results of that process will ultimately define the role of the College of Fine Arts in BU’s future,” he said in an email, “as well as the profile of the ideal candidate to lead CFA going forward.”
For the moment, however, Meissner said he is very optimistic about the future of the college’s programs.
“Our three schools are humming right along,” he said, “with the brightest and most talented students ever, an excellent faculty and a thriving recruitment effort.”
CFA recently added international programs, online classes and domestic theater partnerships.
For the future, Meissner said he hopes to “sustain and improve upon our excellence, but do so in a way that the rest of the world knows it.”
“I think the primary goal … must be to improve and revitalize the college’s facilities,” he said, “to bring our physical surroundings up to the standard of the excellent work that is being done beneath our roof.”