Michael Mastanduno, associate dean of the faculty for the social sciences and government professor at the College, has been appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences following a two-month search process, College President Jim Yong Kim announced in an e-mail to the Dartmouth community Thursday afternoon.
Mastanduno, who has served as an associate dean of the faculty since 2003, will begin his five-year term on August 1, according to the e-mail. Provost Carol Folt, the former Dean of the Faculty, was appointed provost in May but agreed to serve as dean of the faculty until a replacement was named.
Mastanduno will oversee approximately 40 academic departments including interdisciplinary programs and graduate studies and over 400 faculty members.
One of his primary focuses as dean of the faculty will be to protect and improve the quality of the Dartmouth faculty, which members of the Dartmouth community often cite as essential to the "Dartmouth experience," Mastanduno said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
"A priority starting out is definitely the recruiting and retaining of the best scholar-teachers," he said. "We've made great strides in the past five to 10 years and keeping that up in a somewhat tougher budget environment will be a focus."
He added that he also hopes to "maintain as well as strengthen" Dartmouth's international presence.
More study-abroad options, increased faculty work overseas and a greater level of institutional collaboration with foreign universities are three possible ways for the College to increase engagement with other countries that Mastanduno will consider as dean of the faculty.
Mastanduno said he hopes to solicit the opinions of faculty across all divisions and departments to ensure that their ideas and needs are heard by the greater community.
"One thing I want to stress is that as the College is going through its strategic planning process, it's important for there to be a strong faculty voice and for the faculty to be able to articulate its core priorities," he said.
Mastanduno said he will consider the College's budget situation as he plans for the future, but stressed that it will not serve as a roadblock to growth.
"Even though we've made great strides, it would be unrealistic to assume that all the budget constrains have disappeared, because they haven't," he said. "But [Kim] has made it clear that he's aggressively pursuing new opportunities while making sure that he is still acting responsibly."
English professor Jonathan Crewe, who chaired the six-person search committee, said that the administration will have to keep budget concerns in mind while moving forward.
"It's very nice for a dean to come into office when there's tons of money around, but when there's not, choices have to be made that are often difficult," he said. "We wanted to choose a dean who really understands how the College works as a financial entity and whom we trust to make fair and reasonable decisions."
Mastanduno is "an excellent scholar, educator and administrator," Kim said in the e-mail.
Crewe said that Mastanduno's experience in working with Kim will also serve him well as dean of the faculty.
"One thing that nobody in this place wants is unproductive conflict between the president, provost and deans," Crewe said. "For this reason we wanted the dean to have harmonious relations with the president while nonetheless being independent, and we're confident that this will be the case."
Mastanduno, who joined the faculty in 1987, also served as the director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding from 1997 to 2003.
Like any dean that switches responsibilities, Mastanduno will have to become familiar with a new group of faculty, Crewe said.
"Each division has its own way of making decisions, its own priorities and differences in funding procedures," he said. "But the fact that he has been in the dean's office means that he's also been in meeting after meeting with the other associate deans and is familiar with all the departments."
Crewe said he expects that Mastanduno's learning curve will likely be "much shorter" than it would have been for other individuals.
"It wasn't a job requirement that the person had to be a dean ahead of time, and we made that clear, but at the end if the person has that experience it's definitely an advantage," Crewe said.
Mastanduno said that his background in international relations has taught him that the United States has a constantly changing role in the world a lesson that can be applied to his position of dean, he said. His time serving as an assistant in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative while on sabbatical from Dartmouth provided him with lessons and skills that he willing to his new position, Mastanduno said.
"You'd be surprised how many problems in government and [academia] seem the same," he said. "For instance, the need to collaborate when it comes to finding a common solution when there are diverse opinions and interests is extremely important in both cases."
Crewe said that the search committee which began the process of evaluating applicants in May sought to find an individual who would be able to thoroughly communicate the faculty's ideas and needs.
After holding two public forums at which faculty members could express the qualities they viewed as important in a new dean, Crewe said it became clear that the committee wanted an "effective representative" as well as someone who was "independent-minded."
"The dean is their main representative," Crewe said. "That means you're looking for someone who will actually stay in touch with them, get to know them and thus be capable of representing their wishes."
While the search was not nationally advertised, Dartmouth faculty were able to nominate individuals from outside the institution, Crewe said.
Native American studies and history professor Colin Calloway, religion and women's and gender studies professor Nancy Frankenberry, computer science professor Prasad Jayanti, chemistry professor F. Jon Kull and anthropology professor Deborah Nichols also served on the committee, The Dartmouth previously reported.
