Deans’ Search Updates

The month of May in Oberlin: time flying by, soft air, birdsong, gorgeous spring colors—the campus buzzing and busy as semester’s end and Commencement appear on the horizon.

I taught my final class of the semester on the patio at my home. It felt wonderful to be outside.

My schedule is beyond packed these days so I’ll keep this column brief.

First a quick update on the status of the searches for our new deans of the College of Arts and Sciences and the Conservatory of Music. The faculties of the college and conservatory have elected committee members.

For the College of Arts and Sciences, the search committee members are:

• Professor of Politics Chris Howell,
• Professor of Medieval Art History Erik Inglis,
• Chair and Professor of Rhetoric and Composition Laurie McMillin,
• Chair and Associate Professor of Religion and Africana Studies Albert (A.G.) Miller,
• Chair and Associate Professor of Anthropology Baron Pineda,
• Associate Professor of History Renee Romano, and
• Associate Professor of Chemistry Rebecca Whelan.
• The arts and sciences search committee has selected Laurie McMillan as chair.

For the Conservatory of Music, the search committee members are:

• Chair and Director of the Division of Conducting and Ensembles, Professor of Conducting, and Director of the Contemporary Music Ensemble Tim Weiss,
• Director of the Division of Jazz Studies and Associate Professor of Jazz Guitar Bobby Ferrazza,
• Fenelon B. Rice Associate Professor of Clarinet Richard Hawkins,
• Professor of Instrumental Accompanying James Howsmon,
• Associate Professor of Conducting, and Director of Oberlin Orchestras Raphael Jiménez, • Director of the Division of Music Education and Professor of Music Education Jody Kerchner, and
• Director of the Division of Musicology, Andrew B. Meldrum Professor of Musicology, and Director of the Collegium Musicum Steve Plank.
• The conservatory search committee has selected Tim Weiss as chair.

Both committees are scheduling listening sessions with a range of constituencies. Time and place of those sessions will be announced separately. Position descriptions for the deanships will be adopted by the committees based in part on input from these listening sessions.

The positions will be publicly posted in the summer. The search process really kicks into gear in the fall. There will be opportunities for further student and faculty input along the way, as well as when finalists are chosen.

Go Team

A quick shout-out to the Oberlin baseball team which is making its first-ever trip to the North Coast Athletics Conference tournament. The youthful Yeomen have already set a school record for most wins in a season. They will be taking on the College of Wooster this Thursday at 10 a.m. in Chillicothe, Ohio. Best of luck to Coach Adrian Abrahamowicz and the team!