Harry Dawe has been headmaster of an American school in Istanbul, Turkey, where he had his own driver. He has penned textbooks on ancient history. And he has been fired from Oberlin College.
But not this time. After 10 years in Oberlin, Ohio, working his way up from being an assistant for erstwhile College President S. Frederick Starr, to a post in Residential Services then climbing the Admissions ranks to become Acting Director of Admissions, Harry Dawe, 65, is returning to his roots in teaching. Dawe has recently accepted a position at the Fieldston Day School in New York City.
His walls adorned with black and white photographs of New York City and an ancient Turkish map of the world, Dawe cuts a relaxed figure, sporting a snow-white beard and adopting a comforting, casual demeanor.
“I had to face a decision,” he said, sitting beside a cluttered coffee table, next to an equally cluttered desk, “of whether I wanted to be running an office, managing people, working with numbers and spinning the school.”
Last year he was sought after for similar positions in New York, but he decided to stay in Oberlin. But this year he feels it’s finally time to go.
“With some reluctance and real conflicted feelings, I chose to embark on a new adventure,” he said. “People my age are retiring now, but I have chosen a different path.
“I think at some point in life we need to be who we are,” he added.
Before accepting a position at the College, the 1958 Oberlin graduate taught history. After years of traveling, he eventually found a home at Robert College, a secondary school in Istanbul. There, Dawe rose to become headmaster of the school, where his life seemed to rest on what he calls “a very conventional career.”
But it was not to be. A new marriage to Nicolette Love, who had also been in Turkey but hails from Elyria, brought him to Ohio. Both seasoned cosmopolitans, Dawe and Love opted to set up shop in Oberlin.
“We didn’t so much choose Oberlin as we came here for a family situation,” Love said.
In 1992, after briefly working as a research assistant for President Starr, Dawe was chosen to lead Residential Services. Love first taught American literature part-time at Oberlin and Cleveland State University, then filled a vacant position as International Student Advisor.
Dawe tells interesting anecdotes of his work in Residential Services. When the College considered terminating Afrikan Heritage House as a dining hall, he was the fall man. The decision was quickly reversed after a mob of students besieged the Marriott office.
When the decision to combine Residential Life with Residential Services was made, Dawe was out of a job. It was the first time he had been fired in his life, he said.
Then the College called again.
Laboring in a small office near the Admissions mailroom, Dawe took a job working to develop a comprehensive international recruiting program. He traveled to countries throughout Asia including Turkey, Japan, India, Pakistan, Korea, Thailand and China. He is credited with raising the international student admissions pool from 300 to 700.
“Since Nicolette was doing the international student advising, I could know that they would be well cared for,” he said.
And as Dawe was doled out new responsibilities, so was Love. She accepted the task of advising study abroad students in 1997, and would also become Coordinator of Leaves and Withdrawals.
Credited with revitalizing and bringing permanence to an office that had seen four directors in as many years, Love built a study abroad library, moving it from King to Peters and adding dedicated student and graduate-level staff.
Dawe rose through his office, soon a Senior Admissions Associate for then-Director of Admissions Debra Chermonte. Chermonte invited Dawe to lead the Admissions office this fall.
Dawe said there was also the sense that had he chosen to stay on, he might well have held the directorship for years to come.
“I would be perfectly happy here,” he said. “But I didn’t know if I wanted comfort or one more adventure.”
Dawe has accepted a job as a college advisor at the Fieldston Day School in New York. Love will travel with Dawe and their three children to create a home there.
“I will probably have a chance to teach a senior history elective,” mused Dawe. He plans to write another history text, this time exploring comparative American and European history.
Love has not yet found a position, but is looking to stay in higher education, with emphasis on teaching and advising. She has a Ph.D. in American literature.
Having worked so long as an advisor to international students in close concert with them and their families, she seems loathe to leave a place that has become her home. She sees herself as a surrogate parent to her advisees.
“When students think about me leaving,” she said, “they think about me in many ways as a substitute for their parents.
“It’ll be a really emotional time for me to leave the students,” Love added ruefully. “That will be sort of hard to let go.
“We’ve made sure we’ve bought an apartment that has a spare room that people can visit us,” she said.