RECORDS, 1928-1996
In 1961, the Oberlin College Board of Trustees commissioned a committee, headed by Bernard Gladieux (b. 1907), to reevaluate the administrative offices of the College and to design and propose changes which would simplify and improve the administration of the institution. In response to a recommendation contained in the Gladieux report to centralize responsibility for student affairs, the Board of Trustees created the Office of the Dean of Students in 1964. The Dean became director and coordinator of all offices concerned with student services and reported directly to the president.
Prior to 1964, many of the functions of the Dean of Students were carried out by the Dean of Women and the Dean of Men. Until the 1890s, for example, female students in each department (college, conservatory, and the preparatory program) were under the direction of a "Principal". In 1894, these women were given the title "Dean of Women." The almost simultaneous resignation in 1935 of the Dean of Conservatory Women and the retirement of the Dean of College Women allowed the two positions to be reorganized and combined into one office, consisting of a Dean and an Assistant Dean of Women. According to the Oberlin College general job description (1941), the Dean of Women was appointed by ballot of Trustees (on nomination of General Council) and was under the direction of the Women's Board, which was responsible to the General Faculty. The duties of the office included the administration of social regulations, the guidance of women's activities, the selection and guidance of matrons (house directors), the formation of plans concerning housing, and the determination of female student campus employment.
The corresponding position for supervising men students in the nineteenth century was that of an "excusing officer"-- a professor who, in addition to his regular duties, performed the task of writing passes to excuse students who had reason to be absent from class. The excusing officer's title changed in 1895 to "Dean", and over time, this position became an official part-time and eventually a full-time Dean of Men, in charge of the administration of college regulations and housing for male students.
The first Dean of Students was appointed in 1964 to supervise and direct the Offices of the Dean of Men, Dean of Women, and all other student service offices -- Placement, YMCA, YWCA, Student Health, Director of Recreation, and Director of Financial Aid. The dean, occupying a high-level administrative position as a member of the President's Council (now called "President's Staff" or "Senior Staff"), reported on all student concerns directly to the president. The Deans of Men and Women continued to perform their parallel functions of overseeing housing, dining and residential life.
Another major reorganization of the administration of student affairs took place in 1971. While the Dean of Students continued to provide policy, leadership and administrative supervision to all offices involved with student affairs, the two offices of the Dean of Men and the Dean of Women were eliminated. Their responsibilities, which were now redistributed along functional rather than gender lines, were assigned to two Associate and two Assistant Deans. One Associate Dean managed campus affairs such as the student government and student judicial system. The second Associate Dean selected, trained, and evaluated dormitory staff. One Assistant Dean of Students was responsible for overseeing housing and dining facilities, while the other worked to provide dormitory programs designed to enrich student life.
In 1982, the Associate and Assistant Deans of Students in charge of dormitory staff and housing and dining facilities became the Dean and Assistant Dean of Residential Life. Since then, those titles have changed again. At this time, two Associate and three Assistant Deans of Students staff the office of the Dean of Students. Thus, while various positions within the Office of the Dean of Students have undergone occasional name changes, there have been no significant changes in the functions.
In the wake of Langeler¼s 1989 retirement, the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of the Dean of Student Support Services were merged. During this transition, Langeler served as an informal advisor on residential education and student services. Patrick Penn, formally Dean of Student Support Services, was named to serve as the new Dean of Student Life and Services. During his tenure, Penn sought to ensure that every student who matriculated at Oberlin College persisted to graduation, and that minority concerns received a higher priority in administrative policy making. However, in 1993, the student services component of this office was again restructured in response to reduced federal and private grant funding.
In June of 1995, Penn retired as Dean of Student Life and Services. He was immediately replaced by Charlene Cole-Newkirk (OC 1974), who was selected out of a national search. One of Cole-Newkirk¼s first administrative tasks was to participate in the College wide structural deficit reduction process. This resulted in reducing $600,000 from the 1996/97 annual budget of the Office of Student Life and Services, restructuring the work overseen by this office, and reducing the number of professional positions in residential life. Other issues addressed by Cole-Newkirk during her early administration included co-educational dormitory rooms, the College¼s drug policy, and the very essence of student life at a residential college.
Dean of College Women 1894-1900 Mrs. Adelia Johnston 1900-1904 Alice H. Luce 1904-1920 Florence Fitch 1920-1933 Anna Klingenhagen 1933-1935 Mildred McAfee 1936-1937 Katharine Von Wenck, Acting Dean 1937-1947 Marguerite Woodworth 1948-1965 Mary Dolliver 1965-1968 Anita Reichard 1968-1970 Martha Verda Dean of Conservatory Women 1900-1914 Harmonia Wattles Woodford 1914-1937 Frances Nash Dean of Men 1896-1900 Wilfred Cressy 1900-1903 William Caskey 1903-1914 Edward Miller 1914-1917 Charles Cole, Acting Dean 1917-1918 Carl Nicol, Acting Dean 1918-1927 Carl Nicol 1927-1956 Edward Bosworth 1955-1964 W. Dean Holdeman 1966-1967 Walter Reeves, Acting Dean 1968-1971 Thomas Bechtel Dean of Students/Student Life and Services 1964-1966 Bernard S. Adams 1966-1989 George E. Langeler 1990-1995 Patrick Penn (Dean of Student Life and Services) 1995-10/13/97 Charlene Cole-Newkirk 10/97-12/97 Diana Roose (President's office) to oversee office 1998- Deborah McNish (Interim Dean of Students) Associate Dean of Students 1971 Rose Montag 1972 Thomas Bechtel 1972-1978 Joanne Walker 1972-1981 Hal D. Payne 1976-1978 Janice Murray 1979-1981 Gwyneth Love (Assistant Dean, 1975-77) 1980-1983 Richard Dahl (Assistant Dean, 1971-79) 1980-1994 Clark E. Drummond 1982-1983 Helen Jones 1982-1983 Nancy Aschaffenburg 1984-1990 Ellis S. Delphin 1987-1995 Patrick Penn (Acting Associate Dean, 1984-86) 1990- Deb McNish (Associate Dean of Residential Life) 1993- Gloria White (Associate Dean of Academic Student Services)Sources of Information
Deans: History and Function file folder
Dean of Women file folder
Document File 771 III: 1966 Executive Committee Meeting of the Board of Trustees re: Langeler Appointment
Document File 790: June 7, 1968 Executive session of the Board of Trustees re approval in principle of changes in Dean of Students Office
Minutes of Executive Session, Board of Trustees, November 10-11, 1961
Oberlin College Charter and By-laws, 1976, Article XVIII
Observer
Various Copies of Documents kept in Dean of Students Office
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