January
24, 2003
Lee
Bowie Named Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of the
College
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Photo: Fred LeBlanc
Rochelle
Calhoun, acting dean of the College, looks forward to working
with Lee Bowie, who will begin his tenure as dean of the
College this fall.
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In
addition to encouraging students to develop leadership skills
and reaching out to faculty to support dialogue and development,
the Weissman Center can now also lay claim to serving as an incubator
of sorts for one of its own leaders. Lee Bowie, professor of philosophy
and founding codirector of the Weissman Center, has been named
vice president for student affairs and dean of the College (hereafter
referred as dean of the College). Bowie, who
was also founding director of the Speaking, Arguing, and Writing
Program, says that his experiences at the Weissman Center "made
it possible for me to take on this leadership role. I never would
have considered it otherwise." Helping to shape the Weissman
Center's programs and implement its initiatives has prepared him
to "take on the opportunities and challenges of working with
multiple constituencies that will be so much a part of being dean
of the College," Bowie said.
His experience in
the dean's position will be shaped by its recent restructuring,
which was designed to free the dean from administrative oversight
of student services in order to augment his or her academic duties.
The dean's emphasis will now be placed on strategic thinking and
undertaking global responsibilities in relation to the curricular
and cocurricular life of the College, and advising students on
an individual basis about academic planning and how their academic
choices may affect their career planning.
Bowie will bring to
the position a philosopher's "intellectual predilection to
cut a broad swath," he says, and skills in problem solving,
logic, and the ability to bring multiple perspectives into confluence—as
well as the valuable administrative experience he gained at the
Weissman Center. Dexterity in these and other arenas will stand
Bowie in good stead in the revamped position, which he will begin
in fall 2003.
President Joanne V.
Creighton appointed Bowie to the post in consultation with the
Dean of the College Nominating Committee, composed of Creighton;
Elizabeth Braun, director of residential life; Fatoumata Gadjigo,
administrative assistant in the international affairs office;
Molly Gower '04; Amy Martin, assistant professor of English; Catharine
Melhorn, Hammond-Douglass Professor of Music; Margaret Robinson,
professor of mathematics; Robert Shilkret, professor of psychology
of education (chair); Akua Soadwa '03; and Craig Woodard, associate
professor of biological sciences. Bowie replaces Beverly Daniel
Tatum, who left the position in June to assume the presidency
of Spelman College. Since then, Associate Dean of the College
Rochelle Calhoun has been acting dean of the College.
Says Creighton, "Both
the search committee and I are delighted that Lee has agreed to
serve as dean. He's a very well-respected senior faculty member
who brings considerable experience and insight to this job. He
will realize fully, I am sure, the creative potential of this
newly recentered position. I very much look forward to working
with him." Notes Gower, "Serving on the committee was
a great experience. Professor Bowie was an impressive candidate,
and I am confident he will be a great dean. Because of a class
conflict, I had to miss his formal interview with the committee.
He offered to meet with me at 8 am at the Thirsty Mind so that
I could speak with him before meeting again with the committee.
His accessibility and enthusiasm for interaction with students
will be two of his strengths as dean."
According to the revised
job description, "Reporting directly to the president, the
dean shall provide leadership and broad oversight of student curricular
and cocurricular affairs, with the goal of strengthening curricular
and cocurricular linkages and assuring that cocurricular as well
as curricular affairs support the educational mission of the College.
The dean of the College shall be responsible for the administration
of educational policies and the academic and nonacademic regulations
stipulated in faculty legislation and the Student Handbook."
Bowie will chair the Academic Administrative Board and serve on
the Academic Priorities Committee, the Advisory Committee on Multicultural
Community and College Life, the Committees on Fellowships and
Graduate Work, and other committees when appropriate. He will
also oversee the academic advising system, including preprofessional
advising; the administration of exchanges and dual-degree programs;
withdrawals; deviations from requirements; student leaves of absence;
and academic responsibility and other special matters that concern
individual students.
In conjunction with
Dean of Faculty Donal O'Shea, Bowie will also oversee curricular
development and implement curricular initiatives such as the first-year
seminar program. "I'm delighted by the recentering of the
dean of the College position to include more curricular and academic
concerns and am thrilled by Lee's willingness to assume the role,"
says O'Shea. "He has thought deeply about teaching, the curriculum,
and student learning. He also cares about students as individuals
and their experience outside of class. He brings tremendous energy
and intelligence to the job."
In the area of student
services, Bowie will oversee the Office of the Associate Dean
of the College/Dean of Students, who in turn will oversee the
offices of student programs, residential life, religious life,
and the health center/counseling services. He will work closely
with Rochelle Calhoun, who says, " Lee will be a great colleague.
His commitment to students makes him a wonderful choice to lead
our division." Bowie, in turn, says he will rely heavily
on Calhoun. "Rochelle is amazing. I couldn't imagine undertaking
this job if she were not here. I am going to need her to help
with the learning curve, and the wisdom curve."
Bowie cites his deep
commitment to the liberal arts, enthusiasm, a high energy level,
and relentlessness as qualities he will bring to his three- to
five-year term. "As dean, I look forward to being involved
in larger College issues in new and different ways," he says.
"I am particularly interested in strengthening the connections
between the curricular and cocurricular and in improving the advising
system." When it comes to specifics he is mum, planning to
spend much of the six months before he starts the job in an assessment
mode, talking with students, faculty, and staff to "find
out what works and what needs improvement" before setting
goals.
The new dean, whose
areas of academic specialization include cognitive science, philosophy
of mind, logic, philosophy of logic, philosophy of language, and
speaking and writing across the curriculum, joined the MHC faculty
in 1975. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from
Yale University and a doctorate in philosophy from Stanford. He
is the editor, with Meredith Michaels and Robert Solomon, of Twenty
Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy (Harcourt Brace,
2000); and, with Meredith Michaels and Kathleen Higgins, of Thirteen
Questions in Ethics and Social Philosophy (Harcourt Brace,
1998).
The Dean of the
College: A Cycle of Change
All things come in
cycles, or least in spirals. The newly revamped dean of the College
position harkens back to the dean of studies model first used
by the College in 1970 and described in College archival records.
The dean of studies was created by dividing the duties of the
academic dean into two separate positions: dean of the faculty
and dean of studies. It was an appointed position filled by a
member of the College faculty for a three-year term, and its duties
included advising upperclass students with academic concerns and
leaves of absence from the College and supervising the dean of
first-year studies, dean of sophomore studies, and dean of international
affairs. In 1992, the position of dean of the College, originally
created in 1920 and eliminated in 1929, was reinstated. The new
dean of the College duties included managing the academic deans'
offices, which included the dean of international affairs, deans
of studies, and the dean of learning skills offices. The dean
of studies reported to the new dean of the College from 1992 to
1997. In 1997, the position of the dean of studies was eliminated,
and the duties were absorbed by dean of the College. With the
recentering of the dean of the College's position, it now
most closely resembles the dean of studies model, a change for
the better in the eyes of the new dean and many others. Says Bowie,
"The enhanced academic focus of the ‘new' dean
of the College position is what appealed to me most. The restructuring
takes advantage of the talents and strengths of the faculty member
who holds the position and frees the dean to focus on things like
curricular innovation and broad student life issues."
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