Andrea Ayvazian--shown here (at far right) meeting with the student Council of Deacons--will become dean of religious life next month. She will also continue to serve as Protestant chaplain.
After an extensive search, Andrea Ayvazian has been chosen as dean of religious life. She has served as Protestant chaplain at the College for the last two years, and will continue to fill that post while taking on additional administrative duties as dean.
"In my two years here, I have developed tremendous loyalty, admiration, and affection for Mount Holyoke," Ayvazian says. "I believe this institution is extraordinary, and I am delighted to have the opportunity to be of service."
Ayvazian, a minister in the United Church of Christ, says she wants to enhance several areas of campus religious life.
* "I am devoted to ecumenical and interfaith work, and want to 'lift up' through interfaith dialogue the similarities and differences among faith traditions."
* "I believe that Eliot House is a place to bring together three critical aspects of students' life: emotional needs, spiritual concerns, and moral questions."
* "I want to continue to articulate the commitment to social justice that is historically part of Eliot House and this College. It is important that Eliot House facilitate and lead discussions and programs on issues such as poverty and class and race equity, and that this be a place to address these issues from a variety of perspectives."
* "I want to develop and strengthen the community service program here, integrating students' academic, spiritual, and service commitments much more fully." To do this, she says Eliot House will collaborate with the Career Development Center and the Center for Leadership and Public Interest Advocacy. She also hopes Eliot House will be a place where students can be contemplative and fully reflect on their service experiences.
* Although final budget discussions have not yet taken place, Ayvazian says she expects staffing levels at Eliot House to remain unchanged next year. Catholic Chaplain Sister Anita Magovern and Muslim Adviser Shamshad Sheikh are expected to return in the fall, and a replacement will be sought for departing Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Devorah Jacobson.
"My teaching and extensive academic training [she has five degrees], social activism, and commitments to nonviolence and human rights--all these have brought me here," Ayvazian says. "I feel that I have been called to this work, and I am very excited about the dean's position."
![[Index]](../index3.gif){kind=small}