Tufts administrative overhaul took another step forward yesterday, with the announcement that English professor Kevin Dunn will be promoted to Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences. Dunn will join pshychology professor Robin Kanarek - who was promoted to Dean of the Graduate School for Arts and Sciences earlier this month - among the ranks of the University's administration, and will work alongside Dean of Arts and Sciences Susan Ernst.
Although Dunn's promotion is contingent on trustee approval, he will begin work immediately. Ernst said she is excited about the new deans, and hopes that by dividing responsibilities between Dunn and Kanarek, she will have more time to devote to students and faculty.
"I can focus more on student concerns and issues - and other things that faculty are interested in," Ernst said. "When you have a hundred emails a day, you can't get to all of them. I can't do all of this myself."
Kanarek has already moved to Ballou Hall, a transition which Dunn
will make in the coming days.
As for the specific roles the two will play in the administration, Ernst said there is not a precise delineation between her role, the new deans roles, and Dean of the Colleges Charles Inouyes responsibilities. The goal, she said, is rather to work more "as a team."
Specifically, however, Dunn will work with undergraduate curricular issues and faculty hires, while Kanarek is responsible for similar issues in the graduate schools. Ernst said that while recent bureaucratic downsizing should help, the specific promotions will prove more valuable.
"It isn't just the structure, it's people," she said. "We as a team are committed to be as transparent in decisions as possible." Ernst added that she hopes to strike a balance between a small, efficient administration and a large one to spare students and faculty from dealing with multiple administrative layers.
"What I chose to do is to look at the current structure and appoint two deans," Ernst said. She said that the plan to devise a structure that would divide her workload had been in place since she was appointed Dean of Arts and Sciences last semester, with the sanction of president Larry Bacow.
Bacow unveiled his administrative restructuring plan after former Vice President of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering Mel Bernstein left Tufts last summer to become provost at Brandeis University.
