First two dean finalists propose visions for A & S

The new dean of the College of Arts & Sciences will need to emphasize the importance of a multidisiplinary, liberal arts education, said the first two candidates for the vacant dean position at the university.

Since the July resignation of now-Provost Tom Apple, the university has been without a permanent dean.

Beginning Thursday, the final steps are being taken to find the next dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. The first two candidates, out of a pool of five, Leonidas Bachas and Jacqueline Dixon, already have presented their personal qualifications and vision to the university community.

On Thursday, Bachas, the first candidate, introduced himself to a small audience of faculty and university community members at the Roselle Center for the Arts. Bachas is the Chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Kentucky.

Bachas emphasized the importance of a strong College of Arts & Sciences in the success of any major university. He said he plans on focusing his long-term attention on growing successful programs, while reevaluating those that are stagnant.

He also said attention must be paid to the liberal arts.

"You have to do it," Bachas said of emphasizing humanities programs. "The focus the university pays on the liberal arts in the College of Arts & Sciences promotes that. We have to see this holistically, all components need to be emphasized."

In her presentation on Monday, Dixon said a liberal arts education creates leaders. As interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Miami, she recognizes that the college needs to see itself as the college of training leaders.

"It is very easy for the school of engineering and the school of business and the school for environmental science to say, ‘You come to our school, we're going to give you good training,'" she said. "But what we know as leaders in liberal arts education is that most people aren't just going to have one job. They're going to have three, four jobs, and we need to prepare students not for their first job but for their next job."

Dixon said students trained in the liberal arts are able to make decisions based on first-hand knowledge of culture, ethics, aesthetics, history, physical science and the environment. This multidisciplinary approach is invaluable as future leaders.

Faculty members in attendance echoed the importance of the liberal arts.

"The Dean of Arts & Sciences should be someone who has an understanding of the multiple roles of the social sciences and humanities, and is able to effectively communicate that to the administration," said Eric Rise, a professor of Legal Studies, at a reception following Thursday's presentation.

Bachas also spoke of the changing needs of students, including how individual learning styles must be met and understood by university faculty.

"The students are different now, not worse, just different," he said. "They learn differently. They're more visual, they are excited about different things. We need to think how to address that in our classrooms."

Both candidates spoke of the dean's responsibility for fundraising and promoting the Delaware brand. 

Dixon said the college must be evaluated on the national level.

"How is Arts & Sciences branding itself, selling itself, to undergraduates who want to come into a school where there's not only academic excellence, but a lot of majors available to them — and jobs?" she said.

Bachas said there is no reason why the university cannot brand itself as "The Green University," and more strongly promote environmental innovation.

The significance of the environment was a predominant theme in both candidates' presentations. Bachas sees the responsibility of the university's environmental sustainability and development programs as being diffused throughout the university.

"Yes, engineering will be there and business will be there, but Arts & Sciences needs to play a role," he said.

Dixon said as dean, the integration of the sciences and humanities would be a key role of hers. When asked her views on students' ability to change majors, she said academic exploration is vital to the college experience and the university needs to build flexibility into the curriculum.   

"That's what you want, you want them to discover, you want them to find their passion," Dixon said. "You know nobody thinks about being a geology major when they're freshmen. It's something you discover in college and go, ‘Wow, that's great,' and there are a lot of majors like that."

At the Thursday reception, university community members discussed the possible priorities of a new dean.

Steve Bernhardt, a member of the search committee and an English professor, said the new dean will have many new responsibilities, including the construction of a new science building, as well as a new school of the arts, which would bring together the performing arts, studio arts, new dance programs and music program.

"The dean has to get that and look for big donors," he said.