Oxford Dean Dana Greene has announced that she will step down from her deanship in June 2005. Greene, who became Oxford’s dean in 1999, said the goals she set for herself when taking the job have been substantially accomplished.

“The last five years have been very rewarding, and I am filled with a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to have served this unique college and my alma mater, Emory University,” said Greene, who earned her Ph.D. from Emory in 1971. “I will especially miss the esprit de corps of students, staff, faculty and alumni working together for common purpose, and the extraordinary diversity of students who enrich our lives in so many ways.”

Under Greene’s leadership, Oxford has increased its endowments for scholarships, performing arts and athletics. The school grew its faculty by one-fourth, and its first Candler professor (Lucas Carpenter, English) was appointed. Substantial portions of Oxford’s Campus Master Plan have been implemented, including renovations of Williams Gymnasium and Few Hall and construction of the Tarbutton Performing Arts Center. President Jim Wagner said Oxford is receiving increased national recognition for its commitment to undergraduate teaching and its focus on the scholarship of pedagogy.

“All of this,” Wagner said, “bespeaks a liveliness and good health that we want to continue to nurture. It points to a bright future in which Oxford will continue to be an integral and valuable part of Emory.”

“Now is the time to plan one more chapter in my life,” Greene said. “Oxford is significant because it preserves the University’s heritage, but even more because it provides an intimate beginning to a university education. In all of American higher education, there is nothing like the Oxford-Emory connection. I am grateful to have had the chance to contribute to Oxford’s success.”

“Although I am saddened by Dean Greene’s decision to leave next year, I can now look back more clearly at her accomplishments,” said Clark Lemons, professor of English and director of Oxford’s theater program. “She was one who promoted intellectual development, care for the individual personally and professionally, and the arts as part of the cultural environment at Oxford. I personally thought she was a wonderful breath of fresh air.”

Wagner said a search committee will be appointed to find Greene’s successor.

“Clearly, we are going to be looking for someone with great capabilities to continue the good work of Dean Greene,” Wagner said. “This important moment in Oxford’s history is one we want to seize. Oxford is unique; no other major research university has a two-year college—let alone one that is so good. It gives Emory a distinctive advantage in many ways, and we need to invest in and build on this strength.”