Searching for a dean is, in a way, like shopping for a new car. A college has the opportunity to pick out its perfect match in style, make and price — to select the right status symbol to wow alumni and outdo other universities. Just as important as the individual is to the deanship, search committee members must remember a dean should be able to take a college where it wants to go, institutionally and intellectually, and be a reliable member of the faculty for at least several years.
As Boston University continues its seemingly endless quest to fill every top academic spot in its schools and colleges, many students and faculty go without a permanent dean — and the leadership and innovative changes that can come with one. BU’s schools deserve deans selected through a careful, thorough process. These selection processes are understandably long. BU must make sure, however, that dean selections reflect the amount of effort and money that go into them.
President Robert Brown’s plan to aggressively expand the faculty of several colleges and introduce new academic strategies, like an inter-college honors program to replace the University Professors Program, demand sturdy leadership at the top of individual schools. Both so schools’ individual missions are not cramped by a wide-reaching plan that requires a dean’s strength during a time of rapid change and so Brown is not without reliable support across the board, wise dean decisions are crucial.
By committing to searching for external candidates, several of the dean searches now underway are inviting fresh ideas into the university. The visions new deans will bring to the table can help Brown in the coming decade. Before School of Dental Medicine dean Spencer Frankl died last month, he had the longest tenure of any dental school dean in the country. BU should be looking for long-term deans like Frankl who are not only qualified but enthusiastic about administrative positions. Former College of Arts and Sciences dean Jeffrey Henderson resigned his position in July after five years. A classical studies professor at BU since 1991, Henderson decided to return to the classroom. His replacement, outside applicant Virginia Sapiro, who had been vice provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, may prove herself personally compelled to maintain the position for a particularly long term during an important transition.
BU faces unique challenges in its dean searches. Deans for both the College of Communication and the College of Fine Arts must bring together schools in need of updates and composed of separate disciplines. Brown has said he envisions CFA as a rare asset to a research university like BU, and the dean who leads the school will need to understand this vision. A COM dean will need to bring leadership to a school that is sometimes bitterly divided among its departments and also new ideas to keep the school’s curricula relevant in a changing communication landscape.
The School of Social Work’s last permanent dean announced her plans to retire in 2005. After a long period with a permanent leader, the new dean should be able to maintain the small school and raise its profile within the university, especially as careers focused on community improvement become more important in academia.
BU has many lessons to draw from as it works to fill its dean posts. The resignation of Douglas Sears as dean of the School of Education in July 2006, five months after Warren Wilson College reported it was considering him to be its president, reiterates the need for discretion in executive searches. Discretion, however, is no reason to deny accountability, and search committees, knowing the importance of their tasks, should work swiftly and carefully to set BU’s schools on track.