COAS search committee meets with faculty, staff

Members of the College of Arts and Sciences dean search committee met with faculty members and staff Tuesday to discuss criteria for a new COAS leader. Notably absent though, were students, who were encouraged to voice their opinions at the meeting. \nThe committee, which hopes to have a list of final candidates by sometime in May, will find a replacement for current COAS Dean Kumble Subbaswamy, who will leave to become provost at the University of Kentucky July 1.\nTen faculty members and a student representative comprise the committee. Some members of the committee members were absent, including several professors and the student member, Betsy Henke. Henke is running for president in the IU Student Association elections and was excused from the meeting. Other faculty members, staff and students had a chance to ask the committee about the search and screen process. \n"The conversation we're imagining is talking about what you see as the challenges for the college for the next three to five years," committee chair and Dean of the IU law school Lauren Robel told the audience at the beginning of the meeting. "(We want to hear) things that you think are important. One of the things that would really help us is to get your sense of what kind of person would be a good kind of fit for the college."\nRobel and the other committee members stressed the search for a new COAS dean will be more public than some previous searches.\n"It's very important to everyone that this not be a secret search," Robel said.\nRepresentatives of the search firm hired to assist in the \nprocess agreed, saying that though searches for university presidents, provosts and chancellors have largely been secret, dean searches have been public.\nThose attending the meeting had several criteria they suggested for a new COAS dean.\n"One of the strengths we've seen in our dean in the last few years is the degree to which he can play boundary-spanning roles," said Sue Sgambelluri, director of corporate and foundation relations for COAS. \nSgambelluri added that "it takes a lot of energy and it takes appearances and travel and it takes being present in a lot of settings, often back to back," to be a successful dean, and she said she hopes the committee can find a candidate that can do the job effectively.\nOther audience members said the new dean should have experience with international programs and be committed to diversity in faculty.\nThough turnout at the meeting was low, search committee members said it's not because people aren't interested.\n"We've met with a lot of specific groups and so a lot of people who are interested have spoken to us and we have a sense of what they want," said committee member and chair of the French and Italian department Andrea Ciccarelli.\nCommittee member and English professor Susan Gubar said that at this point, there's not a lot of information about the search that the committee can provide and that people's interest might peak once more information about candidates is available.\nMost of the faculty and committee members wanted a dean similar to Subbaswamy, who they hailed as a fair leader who runs COAS effectively.\nSubbaswamy was a candidate for IU-Bloomington chancellor in October 2005, but was turned down by IU President Adam Herbert. Some faculty members were outraged that Subbaswamy was not picked for the position, and the outrage was brought to a Nov. 15 special meeting of the faculty. A resolution to ask the IU board of trustees to immediately confirm Subbaswamy as chancellor was withdrawn before the meeting.