Committee extends SAS dean search

It now seems unlikely that a candidate will be found by the beginning of the spring semester. The 14 month-long search for a new dean for the School of Arts and Sciences will continue into at least the spring semester, administrators said this week. The SAS search committee had originally intended to select a new dean by last July, so that the replacement could assume the post at the beginning of this academic year. But search committee chairperson Douglas Massey said it's unlikely a candidate will be chosen even by the beginning of next semester. "It's not a terribly realistic hope to have someone by the beginning of the semester," he said. The committee will continue to forward lists of candidates to University President Judith Rodin "until the best candidate is found," Massey added. Interim Dean and Physics Professor Walter Wales said that if needed, he will continue his term until the end of the school year. But when asked if he would remain in the post beyond the spring if a new dean is not selected, Wales stressed that he hasn't "thought that far ahead." "I am assuming the search will be successful and that a new dean will be here by the beginning of July," he said. "But I would have been happier if the search had finished last year." Wales, who said he is eager to return to teaching full time, will instruct a Physics course next semester. He will also be responsible for selecting a replacement for outgoing College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Rescorla, who is stepping down from his administrative position at the end of the semester to return to teaching and research in the Psychology Department. The SAS dean search faced problems from the outset, including a "late start" following former Dean Rosemary Stevens' resignation in September 1996. "It was well along in the academic year before we could start to examine candidacies," Massey said. Originally, Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow would have selected the new dean. But Chodorow -- who announced his resignation October 31 -- will formally step down from his post at the end of December, several months before the committee expects to have found a new dean. "We hope the list will be available prior to Stan leaving," Rodin said. "But the interim provost will play a role if we haven't picked someone by then." Rodin added that earlier this fall, one candidate looked extremely promising. But she explained that the candidate was not selected because "he was not able to come as quickly as would make sense." In the meantime, the search committee will continue to "scour both internally and externally" to find promising candidates, Massey said. "We don't want to fill a position just to fill a position," Massey said. "We'll find the right candidate for the job -- if it's later, so be it." Other members of the search committee declined to comment, directing all questions to Massey. Wales began his tenure as interim dean in September 1996. He has served as interim dean twice before, in 1987 and in the summer of 1991. Last spring, Wales and Rescorla pledged to serve beyond their terms, both of which officially ended July 1. "The search will go on until we find the right person," Massey said.

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