Search for new DOPAA continues

Despite having announced in February her intentions to resign as dean of Planning and Academic Affairs, Professor of Greek and Roman Studies Rachel Kitzinger will resume her post as dean until the end of the fall semester.

Kitzinger decided to temporarily return to the position following a conversation with President of the College Catharine Bond Hill last spring, in which she was asked to stay on as dean. "It became clear that the search for my replacement was not going to yield any results by the end of the semester," said Kitzinger. "So I agreed to stay."

Professor of Political Science Peter Stillman serves on the search committee that was created in March to find a replacement for Kitzinger. Thus far, the committee has not yet found a suitable candidate. "The committee was divided within itself, and the committee and the president were divided," said Stillman. "We couldn't come up with consensus candidates."

Finding a suitable candidate for the position is a challenge due to the singular operational niche that the Office of the Dean of Planning and Academic Affairs fills. The office is responsible not only for the College's long-term planning but also for the libraries, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Wimpfheimer Nursery School, the Athletics Department, the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid, the Grants Office, the Office of Institutional Research, maintenance projects and the Faculty Housing Program.

Because the position demands familiarity with so many facets of the College, the committee's search was focused within the faculty. "We agreed that for this job, it's particularly appealing to have an internal candidate," said Stillman.

Even within the faculty, few have had the experience with the many diverse aspects of the College that fall under this office's umbrella. "If you don't have a little child, you don't know how the nursery school functions," said Stillman. Likewise, "there are some faculty members who don't pay attention to athletics."

Kitzinger agreed with Stillman that her position is not easily replaced. "It's a difficult job to find people who want to do it, have the skills for it and have any background at all in the areas covered," she said. "Because the job has such a range of responsibilities, it's hard for faculty to imagine that it's a job they could easily do."

As the committee resumed its search this semester, it decided to expand upon the field of candidates by reopening the nomination process. Stillman stressed that this decision does not preclude any of the candidates who applied for the empty position during the last semester from receiving the committee's recommendation: "The committee is really going to consider new nominations, and reconsider previous ones. Everyone who was in last year is going to be reconsidered."

Kitzinger has served as dean of Planning and Academic Affairs since the position was created in 2007. After four years at the helm of the unique administrative office, three of which were marked by a severe economic crisis, she announced in February that she planned to retire at the end of the academic year. She rationalized her departure by saying that she felt it was time for someone new to move the position forward, and that the alleviated economic status provided a perfect opportunity for the transition.

As Kitzinger is the first and only dean of Planning and Academic Affairs that Vassar has ever had, such a transition is unprecedented. For now, Kitzinger is not focusing on the transitional aspects of her final semester as a senior officer; rather, she is treating the final leg of her tenure as a senior officer as nothing extraordinary.

"If there's a person named when I leave, then I will help them move into the new position in January," said Kitzinger. "It all depends on who the next dean will be. Certainly for the moment, I am continuing as normal."