Nurse dean may not be picked by school year

The replacement for outgoing Nursing School Dean Claire Fagin may not be in place by the beginning of the school year, Nursing officials said this week. Barbara Lowery, the chairperson of the search committee Fagin's replacement, said that the committee has not yet completed their "short list" of candidates for final approval by President Sheldon Hackney and Provost Michael Aiken. "I don't know if we'll have a dean by the beginning of the school year," Lowery said this week. "[The search] is continuing." Fagin announced last summer that she would step down this August 1, to become the president of the National League of Nursing and a member of the faculty. Linda Koons, executive assistant to the provost, said that Fagin will remain on board as dean until the University is able to fill the position. "She would just continue as dean until her replacement is found," Koons said. Fagin was unavailable for comment this week. Lowery said the committee will try to have a new dean "on board by January." "If we find someone by September, that's a reasonable amount of time for someone to give notice [to their employer]," she said. "Hopefully it will be done sooner than that," she added. Lowery said the search committee currently is looking at "a wide range" of candidates for Fagin's post, from both in and outside the University. "We're looking for a good administrator, maybe another [nursing school's] dean or a hospital administrator," Lowery said. She added that "prominent faculty" from other universities are also being considered. Lowery added that the process is proceeding in the same manner as that which named Fagin over a decade ago. Koons said that the final selection will be made by Hackney and Aiken, both of whom are currently on vacation. "The committee comes together with the president and provost with their final list of candidates and the person they want," Koons said. "Then the president and provost meet by themselves and with the person who they decide on, and try to convice them to take the job." Koons said that even once the job offer is made by the Hackney, the new dean is not definite. "Nothing is ever certain until you have a letter from someone saying they will take the job," she said. The School of Arts and Sciences last week named History and Sociology of Science Chairperson Rosemary Stevens as its new dean, ending the five-month search for Hugo Sonnenschein's replacement. In March, Sonnenschein announced that he would leave the University after serving since 1988, to become the provost of Princeton University.

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