Fuery accepts nomination for dean

   A four-person search committee will be soliciting faculty over the next two weeks to join Patrick Fuery, chair of the English department, as candidates for the dean of Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

   Patrick Quinn, current dean of Wilkinson College, announced last month he will step down in August to become a full-time faculty member. Chancellor Daniele Struppa collected in-house nominations from faculty members to select a replacement. Of more than a dozen candidates, Fuery was the only one to accept candidacy.

   "I have already contacted the committee and I've asked them to begin working next week," Struppa wrote in an email sent to Wilkinson faculty Friday at 4:30 p.m. "They will solicit additional nominations and set up the process through which you will have the opportunity to provide input for my decision."  

    During a meeting Friday with about 50 Wilkinson College faculty, Struppa announced Fuery had received eight nominations. Several faculty members, including Marvin Meyer, professor of religious studies, were also nominated but declined to be considered.

   The search committee consists of Meyer; Myron Yeager, professor of English; Marilyn Harran, Stern chair in Holocaust education and director of The Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education; and Gordon Babst, professor of political science. Meyer and Yeager, who declined candidacy for the dean's position, were nominated to the committee by the Wilkinson faculty, and Harran and Babst were appointed by Struppa. 

   Nubar Hovsepian, professor of political science, said Struppa should have created a search committee in the first place instead of having an open call for nominations.

   "He could have gotten the same results by at least showing some respect for the empowerment of the faculty, their role through faculty governance, as opposed to an afterthought that was triggered by public criticisms," he said. 

   The committee will organize for faculty to meet with the candidates and offer feedback. However, Struppa will appoint Quinn's replacement within the next two to three weeks.

   Hovsepian said he was not surprised that Fuery was the sole candidate to accept the nomination. 

   "I think people are being browbeaten," Hovsepian said. "The exit strategy's not clear. We've had now two deans in a row who don't finish their terms … so, I think, who'd want to step into that?"

   Hovsepian said he has no way to expect whether Fuery will make a good dean if selected.

   "I love [Fuery] dearly. I'm so happy he is here on campus," Hovsepian said. "He's not an assertive person. He has a very calm demeanor. I have the highest confidence in him as an intellect, but as an administrator, I just have no basis for judgment."