Search Committee Members Meet with UC To Solicit Feedback for College Dean Search

Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith met with Undergraduate Council representatives for an hour-long meeting Sunday morning, seeking out UC feedback as he leads the search for a permanent Dean of the College.

According to UC Vice President Jen Q. Zhu ’14, Smith started the meeting with a brief introduction before soliciting suggestions from UC representatives about qualities they would like to see in the new Dean of the College.

“They wanted an approachable, trustworthy, proactive Dean of the College,” Zhu said, broadly summarizing various recommendations UC representatives offered.

Smith was joined by professors David I. Laibson ’88, Elena M. Kramer, and N. Gregory Mankiw, members of the newly created search committee advising Smith in the search, and by FAS Dean for Faculty Affairs and Planning Nina Zipser.

Many representatives said they wanted to ensure that the next Dean of the College would take student initiatives and ideas seriously.

“We want someone who would respect our ideas and not try to wait it out, you know, just because we’re here for four years and administrators are here for longer,” said Kirkland representative and UC Secretary Meghamsh Kanuparthy ’16.

According to Quincy representative Brett M. Biebelberg ’16, Smith made “very clear” that there is no timeline for the search and, although the committee is looking for a dean that “understands Harvard,” they are not limiting their search to senior faculty.

Emphasizing their willingness to consider a wide variety of individuals for the position, Smith and the committee members asked representatives to suggest anyone who they would like to see in the position. Lowell co-House master Diana L. Eck, who is also a professor of comparative religion and Indian studies; government professor Steven R. Levitsky; and Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 were among the faculty members and administrators that representatives suggested as good candidates, according to a UC member who asked to be unnamed to avoid the appearance of endorsing a candidate.

Council representatives said they appreciated Smith and other faculty members reaching out to the UC for feedback.

“I was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely interested those five people were,” Biebelberg said. “They demonstrated, above and beyond, their genuine interest and concern in finding a dean who would meet the characteristics that students were looking for.”

The search for a new Dean of the College was set into motion after Smith announced in May that Evelynn M. Hammonds would step down over the summer after five years as dean. Hammonds’s resignation followed revelations that administrators had conducted secret searches of the email accounts of resident deans in connection with the Government 1310 cheating scandal. Botany professor Donald H. Pfister was appointed as interim Dean of the College in July.

—Staff writer Steven S. Lee can be reached at steven.lee@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenSJLee.