Arts & Sciences faculty hear update on dean search

By Matt Kelly

Hearing issues took center stage at the Arts & Sciences faculty meeting March 29, where the dean selection process and the recruitment of new faculty members were discussed.

Gene Block, vice president for research and public service and chair of the selection committee, said the dean selection process has been narrowed to a short list of four to five external candidates and an undetermined number of internal candidates.

Block said the short listed candidates will be brought back to the Grounds for intensive one- and two-day visits, meeting with as many department chairs, teaching groups and search committee members as possible. This raised concerns with some faculty members over how internal candidates were faring in the process.

Block indicated that there were several internal candidates who had not submitted formal applications yet. He also noted that the internal candidates were well-known within the University community and did not require the introductory meetings that were necessary for the external candidates.

“The president and the search committee are close,” he said. “Right now on the short list we have attractive, diverse and outstanding people who will bring something special to the institution.”

Block said there have been 45 formal applications, another 30 on a list of prospects who have not made formal application, which he said translates to a list of about 50 viable candidates.

Block also stressed the confidentiality in the selection process, telling the faculty he did not want to read the candidates’ names in the newspaper.

The selection committee is pursuing traditional methods of investigating candidates — examining their scholarship and talking with colleagues about their leadership style, Block said. He said the committee had met many candidates at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C., for preliminary interviews.

Current dean Melvyn P. Leffler also urged the faculty to be involved in recruiting faculty and graduate students, pointing out that spousal and space issues are the greatest obstacles hampering recruitment and retention.

Two-thirds of new hires’ spouses have trouble finding appropriate jobs, Leffler noted. He said the school that learns how to tackle and solve this issue will have an advantage.

On Grounds, lack of space is such a problem that some retention questions can hinge on whether or not the person has an office, he said.

He recommended that departments work together on both space and spouse issues, to surrender space when necessary and hire spouses when possible.

Leffler said Arts & Sciences needs to map out in detail a long-term capital plan for renovation and new construction of the infrastructure. While there is a long-term plan focusing on capital needs, he said it was still “just a piece of paper.” He urged the University to grapple with the building issues and focus on enriching the curriculum and improving faculty.

He also stressed that the University needed to improve the climate for women and minority candidates. U.Va. does not do as well as it should in hiring and retaining women and minorities, he said. It is not a diversity or affirmative action issue as much as a quality issue, he said. The faculty needs to get involved in defining what constitutes a more welcoming climate.

In other business, the faculty group:

• approved on voice vote a resolution reaffirming that the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences remain as a single unit;
• reviewed a report from the Committee on Educational Policy and the Curriculum on course changes;
• approved a slate of candidates for standing committees;
• held a short memorial and moment of silence to note the passing of chemistry professor Alfred Burger, who died in December.