Leverett House Resident Dean Will Take Leave to Join Ad Board

UPDATED: July 31, 2014, at 9:41 a.m.

Lauren E. Brandt ’01 will take a year-long leave of absence from her position as Leverett House Resident Dean to serve as the interim assistant dean in the Secretary of the Administrative Board’s office, according to an email Brandt sent to residents of Leverett on Monday. Brandt will assume her new position in August, she said in an interview.

In her place, Bilal A. Malik, who has worked as a tutor in Leverett, will temporarily serve as the house’s acting resident dean, according to the email.

Malik, who recently received his doctorate degree from the Graduate School of Education, has worked as an assistant dean of Harvard Summer School as well as an assistant director of undergraduate research.

“I’m looking forward to working with students as they encounter the Ad Board,” Brandt said. “My hope is...that I can help support students not just in Leverett, but across the College.”

In an email to the Leverett House community, Leverett House Master Howard Georgi ’68 congratulated Brandt on what he called her “well-deserved promotion” and expressed optimism for Malik’s appointment.

“While nobody can replace Lauren, I am certain that Bilal Malik will do a wonderful job this year,” Georgi wrote. “He understands in his bones the special relationships that we try to forge at Leverett House among students, tutors and those of us in the House administration.”

Brandt, who will continue to live in Leverett during her interim appointment, also expressed confidence in Malik.

“I think he will be fantastic in this position,” Brandt said. “I think Bilal has a lot of experience in the house—he knows the house community.”

Malik did not respond to a request for comment by the time this story was published.

Brandt, who graduated from the College in 2001 with a degree in History and Literature, serves as a lecturer for the department today. With a dissertation on female activists in Boston, Brandt earned her Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 2009.

—Staff writer Ivan B. K. Levingston can be reached at Ivan.Levingston@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @IvanLevingston.

—Staff writer Tyler S. Olkowski can be reached at tyler.olkowski@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @OlkowskiTyler.