Oberlin College (Oberlin Collegiate Institute prior to 1850) from its inception consisted of three separate departments (Collegiate Department, Theological Department, and Preparatory Department), with a fourth department added in 1867 (Conservatory of Music).  The present system of divisional representation and of divisional deans grew out of decisions made in the 19th century.  The first decision, which became the basis of Oberlin's unique system of faculty governance, was the adoption of the Finney Compact in 1835.  The Finney Compact essentially wrested control over the academic affairs of the College from the Board of Trustees and placed it into the hands of the faculty.  This major decision to sustain a strong tradition of academic freedom remains an important factor in the development of governing patterns even to this date.  Secondly, the movement for institutional reform of the late 1880s and the presidential discontinuities of the 1890s, laid the groundwork for faculty self-government, and the complex structure of elected councils and committees that followed in the 20th century. 

The Early Years, 1896-1946

In 1896, the College Faculty modified the principles of the Finney Compact, when it voted to delegate divisions of instruction, and to create a General Council.  The College of Arts and Sciences was given charge of all instruction not specifically delegated; instruction in theology was assigned to the Graduate School of Theology, and instruction in music was assigned to the Conservatory.

The plan for a General Council was approved by the Board of Trustees in March of 1896.  Membership of the General Council was designated as the President of the College, the Principal of the Academy, and all permanent full Professors.  At that time there were 27 full professors, 14 in the College of Arts and Sciences, 6 in the Graduate School of Theology, and 7 in the Conservatory of Music.  The General Council was authorized to pass upon all nominations of professors and teachers, and the budgets of the departmental faculties.

Provision was made for the democratic organization of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School of Theology, the Academy, and the Conservatory.  It was voted that each Faculty body be represented by a Council to consist of the professors and associate professors on permanent appointment, and that these Councils make nominations for new appointments, and recommendations for the budget to the General Council.  The organization was accepted by the Trustees and appears in the "Starr Code" of 1903.

The "Starr Code" that outlined faculty procedures, and the appointment of Henry Churchill King (1858-1934) as President in 1902, sparked a dramatic administrative reorganization.  It should also be noted here that from 1901 to 1902, Henry Churchill King had served as Dean of Oberlin College, a general office position that only existed for two years before it was abolished.  Following the successful separation of the Office of the Secretary from the Office of the Treasurer in 1899, the College Faculty was separated from the Theological Faculty, and Edward Increase Bosworth (1861-1927) was named Dean of the Graduate School of Theology.  In 1903 the position of Dean of Men was created and filled by Edward A. Miller (1866-1958).  The Office of Assistant to the President was authorized in 1904 and staffed by Charles Whiting Williams (1878-1975).  The Presidential assistant was given responsibility for fund-raising and public relations, giving the President the freedom to concentrate on other goals and objectives.  Upon the Trustees' adoption of the report of the Committee on Codification, the duties of the administrators were defined for the first time.

Despite the administrative advances recognized by President King, he reported in 1904-05 and in 1905-06, respectively, that the College still needed to create a distinct head of the College of Arts and Sciences.  According to King, a separate department with its own dean as recognized head would serve as a unifying force and give the faculty the kind of attention which "is hardly possible for the President to give."  King even pointed to the "prevailing practice in other institutions, as well as the clear gains... made in other departments in our own College, through the appointment of recognized heads."  As it stood, in addition to his other official duties, the President handled all the responsibilities of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, serving as chairman of the General Faculty and the College Faculty.

In 1906 the Board of Trustees honored King's request by appointing Charles E. St. John (1857-1935), a ten-year member of the Physics Department, as the first Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  The announcement was applauded by the faculty and student body in the December 13, 1906 issue of The Oberlin Review,  "The appointment of Dr. St. John as Dean of the Oberlin College of Arts and Sciences is doubly gratifying--it is at once the creation of a needed and commanding position, and the appointment of an ideal incumbent in the position."  When the decision was announced to the students by President King in chapel, the news was enthusiastically received. 

The duties given St. John, as specified in Article XI, Section 2 of the By-Laws and College Constitution, stated that the business of each department was to be managed by a departmental council, of which the dean is chairman.  The article further elaborated that the head of each department would be that department's general executive officer and chairman of its departmental council and faculty committees.  The departmental council was charged with departmental appointments and departmental budget.

St. John officially assumed his duties on January 1, 1907.  He was responsible for eighteen professors, six associate professors, fourteen instructors, eight assistants, the Secretary and the Registrar.  A total of 31 fields of instruction were offered, to 887 students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Within another academic year President King was forced to restate his appeal when the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, St. John, resigned his post in order to accept a position in the Solar Observatory at Mt. Wilson, California.  With no immediate successor in sight, the administrative work of the Dean was returned to President King.

Wanting to concentrate on his other Presidential duties, King wrote, "The changes made by faculty action growing out of the study of the Tests of Efficiency, have also made only more necessary the appointment of a dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  That central department...needs and deserves a larger amount of direct thought and care than it is possible for the President to give." (Annual Report 1910-11, p. 25).  In many ways, King anticipated the need for larger campus administration, freeing research-minded scholars from the detailed but necessary work which went into the management of an organized institution.  King also perceived of the dean as another official responsible for maintaining collegiate and human values in an atmosphere of increasing scholarship and growing specialization.

The Trustees' 1910 response to King was positive.  Calling on the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to cooperate with the College President in the administration of the department, the Trustees also stated:

He shall be especially charged with the duty of studying the problems of college education and keeping abreast of the general progress in that field; of collecting, digesting, and recording in permanent form significant data concerning the work of the department, especially with reference to the effectiveness and economy of administration, the conditions and results of teaching, and the scholarship, life, and interests of the student body; and of devising, subject to the approval of the President and the sanctions of the Faculty, such improvements in the policy and practice of the department as circumstances shall from time to time require.  He shall further have, in addition to the duties imposed upon him by the chairmanships attached to his office, primary responsibility for carrying out all policies and regulations adopted by the departmental Faculty and Council; for the instruction of new teachers of the department in the details of college policy and practice; for securing prompt rendering of customary reports by officers, teachers, and committees; and, in general, for supervision of the routine administration and the necessary clerical work of the department.

As a whole, the duties of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences have remained constant to this day.

In 1911, Professor of Latin Charles Nelson Cole (1871-1945) was named as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  Cole's appointment was followed by a reorganization which resulted in the formulation of majors and requirements for graduation.   During his tenure the Academy (the Preparatory Department before 1892) was disbanded (1916), leaving the College with three main divisions: College of Arts and Sciences, Conservatory of Music, and Graduate School of Theology.  When Cole assumed office there were 1,000 students in the College of Arts and Sciences enrolled in thirty departments with 160 officers and teachers giving instruction in all three divisions. 

The long tenure of Dean Cole was marked by a push for a stronger faculty, and change and transition as the College adjusted itself to larger income, new disciplinary requirements, and a position of growing leadership in liberal arts education.  The retirement of President King in 1927 and the inauguration of Ernest Hatch Wilkins (1880-1966) as the seventh President of Oberlin College launched the College into one of Oberlin's greatest periods of development. 

A signal of the growing responsibilities of the Dean's Office came when Donald M. Love (1894-1974) was appointed as the Assistant Dean in 1926.  Love served in that capacity until 1938 when he became the Secretary of Oberlin College, succeeding George M. Jones (1870-1948) in that position.  His primary responsibilities were in the area of student scholarship, handling academic failures and probation.  Louis E. Lord (1875-1957) had functioned as acting Assistant Dean from 1913 to 1916, but Love's appointment was the first appointment with permanent character.

In 1927 a change in salary scale was approved, along with automatic consideration with promotion for cause as recommended by the faculty.  The prosperity was short-lived as the spread of the Depression prompted a massive overhauling of the budget.  Despite the hard times, the faculty remained intact by agreeing to salary cuts.

After 25 years as Dean, Charles Nelson Cole retired in 1936.  Cole left behind a division which was weathering the Depression.  Although enrollment had decreased from the prosperity of the 1920s, the number of students enrolled in the College of Arts and Sciences on the eve of Cole's retirement stood at 1,268.  Despite the Depression, the faculty had expanded to 181 instructors and administrators within 26 departments.

A new precedent was set during the search for a successor to Dean Cole when for the first and only time, an external candidate was elected as Dean.  Carl Frederick Wittke (1892-1971), chairman of the History Department at Ohio State University, was named as the new Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  Wittke served as Dean from 1937 to 1948 before leaving Oberlin to assume duties as the Dean of the Graduate School of Western Reserve University.  Wittke's years were marked by the impact of World War II.  The decrease in male student enrollment during the War was augmented by the addition of Navy and Marine Corps trainees in the Navy V-12 program.  The V-12 trainees temporarily transformed Oberlin into a military training complex.

1946 to the Present

During the post-World War II decades, Oberlin College underwent a fair amount of administrative reform and modernization.  Although many of these changes were anticipated by the 1946 Committee on Post War Problems, other changes were not anticipated.  During the ensuing decades Oberlin experienced the growth of participatory democracy (students seeking a voice in governance); recruitment of women and minority faculty members; growth of specialization in the curriculum; solicitation of external funds to conduct and expand the business of the division; heightened issues in granting tenure; and, the growth of organized employee groups on campus.  Perhaps the most immediate significant change was the return of veteran students under the auspices of the G.I. Bill, which swelled campus enrollment to a new high of 1,759 students in the College of Arts and Sciences, with a total of 2,399 students in the three divisions.  The number of faculty and administrators had grown proportionately to 195.

The naming of William Edwards Stevenson (1900-1985) as the eighth President of Oberlin College in 1946, following the retirement of Ernest Hatch Wilkins, corresponded with an attempt to strengthen the central role of the President in campus affairs.  Among Stevenson's first actions resulted in the President being given the authority to appoint the divisional deans.  Howard Robinson (1885-1977), acting Dean from 1948-49, presided over the elimination of the councils as formerly constituted.  The old system of eight major governing bodies-- four faculties and four councils was reworked.

The functions of the General Appointments Committee were expanded in 1949, and the Committee was renamed as the General Faculty Council.  The General Faculty Council was restructured to include eleven members, seven of whom were now elected by the Faculty, with the President and the three academic Deans serving ex-officio.  Departmental appointments committees were expanded to serve as advisory committees for the respective deans, and as executive committees for the respective faculties.  These new bodies became known as Departmental Faculty Councils.  The Departmental Faculty Councils consisted of the President and Dean serving ex-officio, and eight other members elected by the departmental faculty.  The newly reconfigured powers of the Councils, beside that of giving advice to the President and Deans when requested to do so, made recommendations for appointment and promotion of faculty members, which the divisional councils recommended to the General Faculty Council who in turn presented their recommendations to the Board of Trustees. 

The General Faculty, which has been the historically dominant unit, continued in its position of stature although it surrendered some of its administrative functions such as appointments, promotions, and class scheduling to the General Faculty Council and the divisional councils.  The College Faculty and College Faculty Council remained subordinate to the General Faculty and the General Faculty Council respectively.  The College Faculty handled all matters of educational policy and curriculum.  Specific matters were handled by committees authorized by and reporting to the College Faculty.

Blair Stewart (1900-1986) was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in 1949, the first Dean presiding over the newly revised system.  Stewart was a proactive Dean.  Under his new system, the input of departmental chairmen and directors became increasingly important.  It is through the chairmen that the Dean is informed of staffing needs and spatial considerations.  The chairmen are also the conduit through which the Dean solicits recommendations on promotion and appointment.

The impact of the Cold War had a dramatic influence on higher education.  The 1957 Sputnik challenge gave rise to a dramatic increase in the availability of grant and foundation support which enabled Oberlin to develop new programs, purchase equipment, and undertake studies.  Research became an equal partner of teaching, frequently superseding instruction in terms of importance.  Acceptance of grant funding did not come without a price, however, as the Oberlin Faculty was forced to debate the issue of loyalty tests that were a conditional rider involved in federal funding derived from the National Defense Education Act.

The Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences grew to encompass grants and grantsmanship, supervising appeals to the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation and a host of other foundations and granting agencies.  The increase in funding spawned a corresponding increase in enrollment and predicated the consideration of a wide range of new programs and course offerings.  One of the key programs funded by the Ford Foundation was the Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) Program.  A number of summer programs and summer institutes were developed at Oberlin as a result of external grant funding.

The resignation of Blair Stewart in 1959 was accompanied by President Stevenson's announced resignation, effective in 1960.  Once again the College went through a period of administrative reorganization as the College searched for a new President.  Robert Kenneth Carr (1908-1979) was inaugurated as Oberlin's ninth President in 1960.  Following Dean Stewart's resignation, Donald M. Love returned temporarily to the Dean's Office.

In what became known as the "Gladieux Report," a special committee of the Trustees proposed the consolidation of a number of administrative positions and the creation of several new administrative positions.  The most significant achievements of this administrative shuffle were the creation of a Dean of Students which consolidated student affairs under one administrator, the creation of a Provost's office, and the abolition of the Prudential Committee, effective on July 1, 1962.  Other changes included the renaming of the College of Arts and Sciences from a Department of Administration to a Division of Administration.

William Hellmuth (b. 1920) was named the new Dean of Arts and Sciences in 1960.  Upon assuming office, the enrollment in the College of Arts and Sciences stood at 1600 students.  There were 135 Arts and Science faculty members representing 24 academic departments.

In 1962, the College Faculty reaffirmed its 1959 decision that the student body in the College of Arts and Sciences be increased to 2,000.  They revised the College Planning Committee's stipulation that the increase in student enrollment be accompanied by no net increase in the faculty.  The revision allowed an increase of not more than five faculty members over the period 1962-65.  It was the final action of the College Planning Committee, which was abolished when planning and educational-policy functions were combined in a new committee, Educational Plans and Policies.  In another significant move, the Graduate School of Theology disbanded in 1965, and the school subsequently merged with Vanderbilt Divinity School.

At the end of the 1966-67 academic year, Dean Hellmuth resigned from the Deanship to return to full time teaching, as Professor of Economics.  While the Special Faculty Committee on the Deanship conducted its search, John W. Kneller served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, in addition to his duties as Provost.  Three faculty members, Norman C. Craig, chemistry; Nathan A. Greenberg, classics; and Donald R. Reich, government; were appointed to serve as Associate Deans representing the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences respectively.  Anna Ruth Brummett, biology, was named the Associate Dean in charge of student counseling.

The provisional situation put in place during 1967 ended when Donald R. Reich (b. 1930) was named as the new Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  During Reich's tenure the Dean continued to hold primary responsibility for carrying out all policies and regulations adopted by the Arts and Sciences Faculty, and the instruction and recruitment of new faculty members.  He also continued as chairman of the College Faculty and College Faculty Council, and as a member of the General Faculty Council.  Among the key administrative functions for the Dean was presiding over the program reviews performed by the Educational Plans and Policies Committee (EPPC).  The Dean, along with the President and Provost, were members ex-officio of this directly elected committee.  Program reviews were performed on a four year cycle, later revised to a seven year cycle during which time departments and programs were evaluated and reviewed.

Beginning in the 1968-69 academic year, the Winter Term program was added as a new responsibility for the Dean's Office.  Several new programs were created under legislation introduced by the Education Commission in 1971, among them: Black Studies, Creative Writing, East Asian Studies, Humanities, Inter-Arts, and Judaic and Near Eastern Studies.  Courses in Women's Studies were offered beginning in 1974, and it was made a program in 1982.

Donald Reich resigned as Dean in 1974 and was replaced by Robert M. Longsworth on an acting basis for 1974-75, and on a permanent basis in 1975.  In 1976, during the second year of the Presidency of Emil Danenberg (1917-1982), an administrative reorganization transferred developmental services and academic advising under the administration of the Office of the Dean.  At the same time responsibility for Stenographic Services was added.

Throughout the decade of the 1980s the College of Arts and Sciences struggled to deal with a freeze on hiring faculty members.  Many of the staffing needs were filled by reallocating positions and aggressively pursuing challenge grants and matching funds.  Alfred F. MacKay was named Dean in 1984, replacing Robert M. Longsworth.  Longsworth's service as Dean was praised by the College Faculty who recalled that his service had begun during a turbulent time and that he had succeeded in restoring "comity" to the Faculty (Observer 10 May 1984).  During the tenure of Dean MacKay the division not only sustained the improved faculty relations, begun by Longsworth, but also succeeded in strengthening the quality of the College Faculty as well as the quality of the student body.  Among Dean MacKay's most significant contributions came with the hiring of seventeen new faculty members, ending the hiring freeze which had plagued the College throughout the decade of the 1980s.

As the College of Arts and Sciences entered the decade of the 1990s, it was faced with declining enrollment and a freeze of faculty replacement.  Enrollment in 1990 stood at 2,250 students in the College of Arts and Sciences, and 500 in the Conservatory of Music.  The Arts and Science teaching staff totaled 225 members in 32 academic departments and programs.

In 1995, after the College conducted a national search, Mary Ella Feinleib, a biologist who was for twelve years dean of Tufts University Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Jackson, was appointed Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  Please consult the following list for the names of those individuals who have served as Dean to the present.

Deans of the College of Arts and Sciences

Dean of Arts & Sciences                            Dates

Charles Edward St. John                                               1906-08
Henry Churchill King (acting)                                       1908-11
Charles Nelson Cole                                                      1911-36
Charles Gardner Rogers (acting)                                     1924-25
Donald M. Love (acting)                                               1937-38
Carl Frederick Wittke                                                    1937-48
Howard Robinson (acting)                                              1948-49
William Blair Stewart                                                    1949-59
Donald M. Love                                                            1959-60
William F. Hellmuth, Jr.                                                1960-1/66
Elbridge P. Vance (acting)                                              2/66 - 6/66
William F. Hellmuth, Jr.                                                 7/66-67
John W. Kneller                                                             1967-68
Donald R. Reich                                                             1968-74
Elbridge P. Vance (acting)                                               1970
Robert M. Longsworth (acting)                                        1974-75
Robert M. Longsworth                                                    1975-84
Sam C. Carrier (acting)                                                   1980
Alfred F. MacKay                                                           1985-91
James J. Helm (acting)                                                     1991
Alfred F. MacKay                                                           1992-95
Mary Ella Feinleib                                                           7/95 - 3/96
James J. Helm (acting)                                                      4/96 - 6/96
Clayton Koppes (acting)                                                   7/1/96 - 6/30/97
Clayton Koppes                                                               7/1/97 - 6/30/2000
Robert Geitz (acting)                                                        7/1/2000 - 12/31/2000
Clayton Koppes                                                               1/1/2001 – 6/2004
Jeffrey Witmer (acting)                                                    7/1/2004 – 6/2005
Harry Hirsch                                                                    7/1/2005 -

Annual Reports of the President, 1903/04-1989/90

By-Laws and Constitution of Oberlin College, (various editions)

General Catalog of Oberlin College and Announcement of Courses, 1903-1991

The Oberlin Review, 1906

The Observer, 1979-91

Annual Reports of the Dean to the President, 1953-80 (incomplete)

Administrative Survey of Oberlin College, Cresap, McCormick and Paget, 1951

Profile of Oberlin College 1953-73 (submitted to the Ford Foundation), 1962

Report of the Committee on Administrative Organizations to the Board of Trustees (Gladieux Report), 1961

"Faculty Participation in the Government of Oberlin College, 1944 (Document prepared for the AAUP Oberlin Chapter, subtitled How the Oberlin Procedure Differs from the Procedure in Most Schools)

"Council Procedure: A Statement Made to the College Council By President Wilkins on May 15, 1945"

"The Government of Oberlin College," 1956 By Donald M. Love

"Report on Training Visit to Oberlin College," 1958 (North  Central Association Leadership Training Project)

"On the Decision Making Process at Oberlin College: A Statement to the General Faculty of Oberlin College," 1959, Dean Blair Stewart

"Description of Administrative Position" (Dean's Office), 1961, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1980

“Former Tufts dean to head College of Arts and Sciences”, Observer 16 (30, March 1995): 1, 3.