Robert Hollister, co-founder and dean of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, will leave his position at the end of this academic year following a decade of service in which he spearheaded the effort to make active citizenship a defining goal of the university.
In citing his reasons for leaving, Hollister referenced his "personal life and wanting to move onto a next chapter." He plans to take a year-long sabbatical after he officially steps down.
"I'm looking forward to a year of rest and also a fair amount of international travel," he said. Following this, Hollister will return to Tufts to teach an undergraduate course and potentially a graduate course on leadership and active citizenship.
He believed now was an optimal time to end his deanship, because the Tisch College's solid support base will make for an easy transition to new leadership.
"The college is very well established and the whole university-wide active citizenship initiative has enjoyed very broad support and momentum," he said. "It would be a good point in time to pass the baton to the next dean."
Hollister also looks forward to strengthening his commitment to the Talloires Network, which he launched in 2005. Composed of representatives from close to 100 international universities, the network aims to bring higher education leaders together to elevate the civic engagement and social responsibility work at their respective institutions.
The search for Hollister's replacement is currently underway, according to Tisch College Director and Associate Dean Nancy Wilson.
Provost and Senior Vice President Jamshed Bharucha is assembling a search committee that will advise the process along the way, she said.
The committee will be comprised of Wilson, some members of the faculty, student representation and members of the Tisch College Board of Advocates, according to Wilson.
In 2000, Hollister co-founded Tisch College with several other Tufts community members in an effort to spur the growth of community leaders needed to address pressing social issues. At the time, he said, student demand was high for such an establishment.
"We had increasing evidence students were coming to Tufts having done some significant community service work before and were looking for that to be an important part of their college and graduate school experience," Hollister said. "So creating a college represented a step to respond more substantially to that expectation."
Active citizenship, he said, had already been an important part of Tufts even before the realization of the college.
Wilson echoed Hollister, adding that the establishment of the college reinforced the importance of community leadership at the university.
"It was not articulated as a defining feature of Tufts, it was not something that had a consistent champion, and not something that had a way of being articulated in every field," Wilson said.
Tisch College Senior Student Programs Manager Mindy Nierenberg emphasized Hollister's vital role in the formation of Tisch College. "His dream is really what made Tisch College from a dream to reality," she said. "Tisch College was a sparkle in somebody's eye that he picked up and has turned that whole sparkle into a reality."
Nierenberg praised Hollister's starting idea behind Tisch College, which she called an "infusion strategy" for active citizenship based on drawing from all parts of the university.
"The idea was that we wouldn't be a center for community service, like there are at most colleges," she said. "We would partner with every part of the university to infuse the idea of civic engagement and active citizenship. It was really a brilliant strategy because Tisch now does touch almost every part of the university."
Hollister sees collaboration as the key reason for the college's success.
"I've [played] an important catalytic and support role, but to accomplish as much change as we have really is because there have been dozens of faculty members, hundreds of students and alumni taking initiative, creating, organizing new courses, improving the service initiative, very forceful leadership from the provost and the president, extraordinary initiative and leadership from alumni," he said.
He cited the institution's unique partnerships throughout the university as one of its defining features.
"If ever there were a case of truly collaborative leadership, that's the key part of the Tisch College story," Hollister added.
Hollister's humbleness as a leader was vital to ensuring the inclusion of the Tufts community in the college's active citizenship goals, according to Wilson.
"He's a very humble person, and I think that's been critical to our growth and development to date," she said. "That would not work if the dean of Tisch College were someone who wanted credit for everything."
Hollister said that Tisch College has succeeded in increasing alumni involvement in the field of civic engagement and community leadership across Tufts' disciplines.
Tisch College has made noticeable strides since its earliest days when it was viewed with skepticism from many faculty members, according to Nierenberg. Since then, it has since expanded in both size and regard, she said.
"Now over 100 faculty have submitted courses for our list of active citizenship courses," she said. "We have almost 50 adjunct [professors and] we have a new group of around 20 faculty fellows," she said.
Wilson added that the incoming dean will benefit from the college's expansion.
"We're not asking someone to come in and fix something that's not working," Wilson said. "We're asking someone to come in and get a whole bunch of terrific assets to work with."
Still, new leadership, Wilson believed, will bring the possibility of introducing new ideas within the college.
"It's an opportunity to find somebody who will bring a batch of new ideas to it and new energy," Wilson said.
Chris Rogers, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Center for Engineering Education and Outreach, agreed that the transition to new leadership could bring in fresh initiatives.
Rogers collaborated with Hollister on the Student Teacher Outreach Mentoring Program (STOMP), which places undergraduate students into Boston-area schools to help with elementary through high school engineering education.
"I would hope the next person to take his place is completely different, so you continually get new directions and new ideas, to keep the place from going down any one rut," Rogers said. "[Hollister's] definitely done a lot, he's really worked hard to make it a major initiative on campus, and it'll be neat to see what the next person does."
Nierenberg maintained, however, that whoever the new dean may be, he or she will be walking in notable footsteps.
"All I know is the next person coming in has extraordinarily large shoes to fill," Nierenberg said. "He's basically helped to changed the face of Tufts."
