Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha on Friday announced the members of the search committee for the new dean of arts and sciences and expects the committee to have successfully selected a candidate by the end of the semester.
In an e-mail to the Tufts community, Bharucha revealed the structure of the committee, which consists of himself as chair, five faculty representatives, three staff members, one graduate student and one undergraduate student.
The committee is tasked with finding a replacement for Robert Sternberg, the current dean, who in December announced his decision to step down this June following the completion of his five-year term.
Bharucha explained that the committee will solicit both nominations and applications with the assistance of a search firm. Upon review of these applications, the committee will select candidates to interview and continue whittling down candidates through an extensive interview process.
Professor of English Jonathan Wilson, a member of the committee, emphasized the importance of the search process.
"It's many hours, it usually involves a very careful and thoughtful selection process," he said. "This is a very important decision for the university. You're talking about someone who's going to be here for hopefully a very long time and who can have a very large impact on the university, so one has to be extremely diligent and careful."
According to Bharucha, candidates both internal and external to the institution will be considered, and there is no preference either way at the moment.
He outlined three important issues to consider when evaluating candidates.
"I would say quite a few qualities, but let me just mention three: a proven record of promoting firstly academic excellence, secondly collaboration and thirdly diversity," Bharucha told the Daily. "I'll go on to say that the candidate should have significant experience in academic administration."
Associate Professor and Department Chair of Philosophy Nancy Bauer, who is also on the committee, highlighted the qualities that were critical to faculty.
"I think all faculty members want somebody who's open, intelligent [and] thoughtful," she said. "I think the hardest thing about having any kind of leadership position is making sure that you listen carefully to what other people have to say. At the same time, you need to know when enough listening has happened and you need to make a decision."
Bauer also noted the importance of the interview stage in assessing these qualities.
"It's critical that you ask the right kinds of questions because you're trying to elicit not just the candidates' answers, but their style of answering questions and their way of interacting with people," she said.
Bharucha expressed his confidence in the committee's ability to successfully select a candidate.
"It is an excellent committee, obviously you can't put everybody on the committee but I think it's a good committee," he said.
Likewise, Bauer expressed her belief that the committee would be well equipped to do its work.
"I have every confidence that the provost will do a very good job of guiding this process," she said. "He's really experienced at doing this, and I'm looking forward to working with him and the other members of the committee."
Bauer also noted, however, that the search process would have to be accelerated due to the timing of Sternberg's announcement and the desire to have a candidate in place for the next academic year.
"Because of when the dean resigned and how quickly we want to get a new person in place, this process is going to be more compressed than it would have been if we had known in September," she said.
Bauer also stressed the added importance of the selection process given University President Lawrence Bacow's recent decision to resign.
"I think people are taking it very, very seriously, there's no doubt about that," she said. "Especially in light of the fact that President Bacow is stepping down, it's critical that we find the right person."
The other members of the committee are Professor of History Peniel Joseph, Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering David Kaplan, Professor of Mathematics Misha Kilmer, Senior Director of Development of the School of Arts and Sciences Brigette Bryant, Dean of Admissions and Enrollment Management Lee Coffin, Executive Administrative Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Leah McIntosh, President of the Graduate Student Council for Arts, Sciences and Engineering Jason Heustis and Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senator sophomore Nunu Luo.
Bharucha explained that candidates were selected through a combination of nominations by bodies like the Faculty Executive Committee of Arts, Sciences and Engineering and the TCU Senate as well as his own decisions.
As noted in his e-mail, the committee is currently at the stage of soliciting nominations and applications on the national stage. Nominations or comments about the selection process are being collected at deansearchAS@tufts.edu, while applications are being accepted with an accompanying cover letter and résumé at s.storbeck@storbeckpimentel.com.
Bharucha expressed his appreciation for Sternberg's service to the university.
"I'd like to thank Dean Sternberg for his important contribution as dean," he said.
Sternberg is currently one of the three finalists for the position of provost and executive vice president at Colorado State University. He interviewed for the position on Jan. 21.
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Corinne Segal contributed reporting to this article.
