The search committee charged with finding a new dean for Emory College will hold a series of public meetings this month in hopes of getting as much input as possible from faculty, staff and students about where they feel the college is headed and what kind of person would be ideal to lead it.

Chair Elaine Walker, Dobbs Professor of Psychology, said she and at least one other member of the search committee will be present for each of the three scheduled meetings for faculty, which will be held:

• Wednesday, Nov. 6, from 2–3:30 p.m. in Cox Hall Room 3.

• Friday, Nov. 8, from 2:30–3:30 p.m. in Cox Hall Room 3.

• Friday, Nov. 15, from 9–10 a.m. in Cox Hall Room 1.

• A special student meeting will be held Tuesday, Nov. 12, from 3–4 p.m. in Cox Hall
Room 2.

“We strongly encourage faculty, staff and students to attend these meetings and express their viewpoints,” Walker said. “We have unique and broad representation on the search committee; we have individuals with a deep understanding of Emory College, with many different interests and backgrounds represented. But, of course, the committee is a very small subset, and for that reason we think it’s very important to have an open discussion with faculty and students about the search process.”

In addition to Walker, the committee is made up of Marshall Duke (psychology), Dalia Judovitz (French and Italian), Gordon Newby (Middle Eastern studies), Sue Jinks-Robertson (biology), Richard Rubinson (sociology) and Vaidy Sunderam (math and computer science). Also on the committee are nursing Dean Marla Salmon, University Libraries Vice Provost Joan Gotwals and Emory trustee Wendell Reilly, a 1980 graduate of the college. College senior Jason Miller serves as student representative.

At the meetings, Walker said committee members will present the group’s tentative timeline for the search, which calls for review of applications by mid-January, selection of finalists by late February, and announcement of the new dean by late March.

The committee also will pose specific questions to those in attendance, such as “How do you see the role of the dean of Emory College?”; “What are the key priorities that should be addressed by the dean?”; and “What do you see as the critical issues facing Emory College at the present time?”

These will be the same questions the committee poses to applicants for the position, and the responses from the Emory community will give the group some guidelines in evaluating responses from the candidates, Walker said.

“Ultimately our priorities, in terms of the qualities of the candidates, will be determined by the input we receive from faculty, students and staff,” Walker said.

The deanship of Emory College has been vacant since former Dean Steve Sanderson left Emory in summer 2001. Bobby Paul, on leave as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, has filled the role in an interim capacity since that time.

Walker said an official announcement of the position will be published very soon in The Chronicle of Higher Education and other publications customarily used in this type of search.