November
19, 2004
New
Deans on Campus
 Photo
by: Todd M. LeMieux
Isabelle Darling |
Three new deans began working at Mount Holyoke
this fall. Isabelle Darling has taken the newly created position of coordinator
of multicultural affairs and associate dean. Darling will serve as a liaison
between the administration and ALANA (African, Latina, African American, and
Native American), LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender), and QQA (Queer
and Questioning Allies) students and as adviser to the cultural houses on campus.
Darling, who graduated from Hampshire College in 2004, is no stranger to Mount
Holyoke. She took several courses here, including psychology of racism. “A
lot of my identity development took place at Mount Holyoke,” she said.
Darling grew up on Long Island, the biracial daughter of two white women. She
has been concerned with issues of diversity and social justice since high school.
Her senior Division III project at Hampshire, titled “Reflections: African/American,” looked
at divisions between black Americans and black Africans in the U.S.
“I want to be visible and active here,” said Darling. “Dialoging
with people is what I enjoy most and where I learn the most and gain the ability
to make change.” She feels she has the full support of the administration. “They
can help me by having their ear open and being willing to make changes that students
suggest to me,” she said. She urges all members of the Mount Holyoke community
to “question, explore, engage, and challenge.” Her goal is to “see
solidarity rise within each cultural house, among the houses, to achieve unity
within the community.” She acknowledges that it will take time. “All ‘isms’ are
a thousand years old. You can’t eradicate them in three or four years.
It takes lifelong dedication.”
Some of Darling’s projects include helping to organize MHACASA’s
Awareness Week, Native American Heritage Month, and screening a PBS series titled
Race: The Power of an Illusion. She is also looking ahead to the third White
Privilege Conference, scheduled to take place at the College in spring 2006.
She hopes to have a simultaneous People of Color Conference, with roundtable
discussions that bring the groups together. “It’s important for people
in oppressed groups to realize that they have privileges, too,” Darling
said. “They can still provide support for others even though they are oppressed.”
Darling holds student office hours Wednesdays from 10:30 am till 3 pm. She also
spends several hours a week at each of the cultural houses.
Connie Allen is a lecturer in chemistry and academic dean of the classes 2006
and 2007. She received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Maryland,
Baltimore County. She taught chemistry, developed courses, and served as an adviser
at Yale University for four years before coming to Mount Holyoke. “As a
chemistry professor, mentor, adviser, scholar, parent, and student, my path to
Mount Holyoke College has equipped me with so many of the tools necessary for
success. It is an honor and pleasure to participate in a stellar community of
women scholars who will go on to take their role among our nation’s leaders.”
Jenny Pyke, a lecturer in English and academic dean of the class of 2005, earned
her M.A. in English from Drew University and will receive her Ph.D. in English
from Drew this spring. She specializes in Victorian and modern Scottish literature,
and autobiography. Before coming to Mount Holyoke, she was at Wesleyan University
for six years, working with the Project for Curricular Renewal, then as the project
manager for the University’s Web advising portfolio, and most recently
as an academic class dean and lecturer in the English department. About Mount
Holyoke, she said, “One instantly senses that it is a warm place, full
of intelligent, curious, good people. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the
students so far, both the first-year students in my English class and the senior
students for whom I am dean. Just the other day, a student sat in my office and
said, ‘I am so happy here; every day I think, could I be any happier? And
then the next day—I am!’ As dean, I love engaging with students’ anxieties,
as well as sharing these moments of collegiate bliss.”
“Isabelle, Jenny, and Connie have all been wonderful additions to the College,” said
Liz Braun, associate dean of the College and dean of students. “Each of
them brings a great breadth of experience and knowledge. They have already contributed
many new ideas and initiatives. I feel lucky to be working with them.”
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