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SEAS Dean Search Narrows
PUBLISHED MAY 2, 2008
The long-awaited announcement of a new dean for the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science may be drawing near as sources close to the selection process have confirmed that the search has narrowed to a short list of candidates.
Though the current status of the selection and number of candidates under consideration is unclear, the Spectator has confirmed three of the final candidates who have recently been interviewed by members of the administration, the dean search committee, and some students from the Engineering Student Council.
Among the candidates is current Interim Dean Gerald Navratil, who was appointed to replace former SEAS Dean Zvi Galil following his departure for Tel Aviv University at the beginning of the 2007-2008 academic year.
Two other individuals who have allegedly been considered are Richard A. DeMillo, the current John P. Imlay Jr. dean of computing at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Rafael L. Bras, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
DeMillo has also served as Hewlett-Packard’s chief technology officer and the director of the Georgia Tech Information Security Center. Bras was appointed dean of The Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine on April 24, likely eliminating him from SEAS contention.
According to ESC Class of 2011 President Kamal Yechoor, President Lee Bollinger is in the process of reviewing the final candidates and could potentially announce the name of the new dean “before school is over.” Search committee member Ken Yearwood, SEAS ’08 and a Columbia spokesman, declined to comment on the current status of the dean search.
Due to scant recent updates about the dean search—despite earlier commitments from Columbia administrators to complete the process by the end of the academic year—SEAS student leaders said they been particularly concerned about whether the new dean will be able to connect with the student body as did the well-liked Galil.
During Galil’s tenure, the school’s U.S. News and World Report ranking rose, its admissions rate declined dramatically, and the chemical engineering and earth and environmental engineering departments expanded.
“What Dean Galil has done cannot be surpassed by any dean,” University Senate SEAS representative Sumeet Shah, SEAS ’08, commented.
Yechoor, who participated in some of the candidate interviews, revealed that among the main concerns voiced by SEAS students were making sure the new dean would be committing to keep in touch with the student body, focusing on expanding the engineering school, and working with the Center for Career Education to improve employment and internship options for engineers.
Reflecting on Navratil’s interim term, Shah added that “you cannot judge Navratil by only one year. Navratil has tried to connect with student and has done a good job.”
A student leader in the engineering school who sat in on some of the interviews said, “Dean Navratil, in my opinion, did an incredible job in his interview. I was impressed with how he did. During the search process, the candidates did meet with undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, the search committee ... there were an exorbitant number of people.”
ESC President Liz Strauss, SEAS ’08, asserted in an e-mail that Dean Navratil “has done incredibly well. He has brought a new focus, entrepreneurship, to SEAS and has worked very hard to maintain the sense of pride students want to have in our school.”
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I disagree. If Columbia feels confidentiality is all that important to maintaining the integrity of its selection process, then the administration should take measures to make sure names don't slip out -- that's not Spec's job. As a SEAS student, I happen to find it pretty interesting and enlightening to know what types of candidates the school is considering, which is something you don't normally hear (even after a search process ends). This isn't a question of state secrets.
Also, I highly, highly doubt that anyone will take his or her name out of consideration to head a Columbia school in the future just because of this. The names of candidates for president of Harvard have been leaked early for each one of the past three searches, but most of academia would still kill to be short-listed for that position. (Much better job, granted, but same principle.)
Can we please choose a Dean who will immediately eliminate the massive failure that is Gateway?
Spec should not have identified the candidates. The search process is supposed to be confidential. Confidentiality is important because many potential candidates don't want their current institutions to know they are interested in going elsewhere, and won't apply if they think word of their interest will get out. Spec has every right to publish this information, but its decision to do so may hamper future efforts by Columbia to recruit administrators and senior faculty. Newspapers can occasionally serve their constituents best by not revealing everything they know, and I think this was one of those occasions.
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