The task of restructuring the vice president's office that President Larry Bacow took on when he came to Tufts is about to become more complicated, as Associate Dean of Academic Planning Michaele Whelan announced that she will leave for Brandeis on Nov. 5. Whelan will once again work with Mel Bernstein, former vice president of arts, sciences, and engineering, who left Tufts over the summer to become provost at Brandeis.
Whelan will assume the position of Associate Provost of Academic Affairs at Brandeis and will be working out of Bernstein's office. Though she also worked closely with Bernstein at Tufts, she said that her switch was not prompted by a desire to work with her former boss.
"I've been really happy at Tufts and feel confident that I could have stayed," Whelan said of her five years at the University. "It's a time of change and opportunity... At Tufts I had a lot of flexibility and freedom, but the exciting thing about Brandeis is that I'll get to work between the schools."
Whelan looked at other possible administrative positions over the summer, including an opening at Lesley College. She found Brandeis to be the "best fit" and said that she was excited about working with Bernstein again. "We had a very good working relationship," she said.
The position Whelan will fill was created by Bernstein to complement an already existing associate position at the university. As a second associate provost, Whelan will add an arts and humanities dimension to an office that concentrated exclusively on issues related to the sciences.
Whelan said that Bernstein added the position to help him achieve his "academic vision" for Brandeis, and that he hopes it will improve strategic planning and account for fiscal constraints on the university.
"That office has evolved over time... it's natural when coming into a new position," she said. "Our president is doing the same thing here on a much larger scale."
Since Bernstein's departure, administrators have been working in a team structure that Whelan described as "pretty complicated." Deans have been collaborating on projects and coordinating their agendas, and Whelan declined to elaborate on whether the changes were positive or negative.
"It's always different when that person at the top is taken away... people really like and respect each other so it's exciting to work as a team," she said. "I think it's more confusing for students, though, when there's more than one person."
Bacow is slated to announce permanent changes to the Tufts administration in the coming weeks. Whelan said this has nothing to do with the fact that she will be leaving just three weeks after learning of her appointment.
"Mel is very eager to start thinking about his process," she said. "The sooner I'm on board for that, the better."
At Brandeis, Whelan will find herself working for an institution different from Tufts in several respects. Tufts has seven schools all located on different campuses, while Brandeis has four schools located in the same area.
But there are some similarities. Whelan described both schools as "innovative," saying that they are comprised of a faculty of administrators and scholars while also serving as top-notch research institutions.
