Search committee for brand new Tandon dean disillusioned by low scholar participation

An 18-member college search committee is within the technique of discovering a brand new dean for NYU’s Tandon Faculty of Engineering, however members of the committee say neighborhood engagement efforts have been met with low scholar attendance.

The committee reached out to scholar teams in mid-August to encourage them to participate within the engagement conferences, and held two periods open to all college students this previous month for Tandon college students to offer their enter. Guido Gerig, a pc science and engineering professor at Tandon main the committee, stated he was disillusioned on the low turnout in conferences.

“Our expertise of comparatively low attendance implies many college students could have missed essential info throughout these first weeks of the semester or couldn’t attend these conferences,” Gerig stated. “We wish to make sure to have broad enter from college students about essential qualities and experiences for the following dean.”

To encourage extra scholar participation, the committee has scheduled an extra assembly on Sept. 28.

Krystine Ferreira, a member of the Tandon Undergraduate Scholar Council, stated she hopes extra college students will develop into concerned within the dean choice course of and that details about conferences is made simpler to entry.

“The choice course of ought to be promoted extra by codecs resembling Instagram and flier distribution,” Ferreira stated. “The coed physique solely acquired one e mail on Sept. 12 regarding the dean choice assembly on Sept. 14.”

The college’s neighborhood engagement efforts have seen low attendance earlier than. Final yr, the seek for former college president Andrew Hamilton’s successor additionally skilled low engagement from college students, regardless that college students, college, workers and alumni had been invited to share their opinions at numerous hearings. A 2021 seek for a brand new CAS dean was additionally met with minimal participation from college students.

This search started after Tandon’s present dean, Jelena Kovačević, introduced that she would step down from her position in August 2024, and can return to the college as a college member after taking a sabbatical. Kovačević was the engineering faculty’s first lady dean since its founding in 1854. 

The committee consists of professors and directors from Tandon, together with the Faculty of Arts & Science, Stern Faculty of Enterprise and Robert F. Wagner Graduate Faculty of Public Service. The group is within the technique of listening to from others within the Tandon neighborhood — together with scholar authorities leaders, totally different departments and alumni — about what they hope to see in a brand new dean, in line with Gerig.

Issacson, Miller, a recruitment agency, may even be guiding the committee in the course of the search course of. The agency was additionally concerned within the search course of that led to Mills’ choice as college president, and particularly seeks candidates from numerous backgrounds. In 2022, 76% of their placements had been ladies or folks of shade. 

“As a primary step, the committee desires to listen to from the neighborhood about what we must always search for in a brand new dean,” Gerig stated. “Then the enter of all these periods might be used to kind the premise of a place description and job descriptions. We’ll use that steering in reviewing candidates for the place.”

The committee will then create a listing of potential candidates to current to NYU president Linda Mills and interim provost Georgina Dopico, who will make a ultimate determination.

Contact John Kim at [email protected].