On July 18, College President Sian Leah Beilock announced that associate dean of student support services Anne Hudak and associate dean for student life Eric Ramsey will be stepping up as interim Deans of the College. The two associate deans will temporarily take the place of Dean of the College Scott Brown, who will leave the College at the end of the month. The Dartmouth sat down with Ramsey and Hudak to discuss their commitment to Dartmouth, their approaches to their new roles and their goals looking ahead.
What experiences led you to Dartmouth?
ER: I have had the great privilege of being at Dartmouth for more than 20 years now. What originally brought me to Dartmouth is what keeps me here every day: it’s the opportunity to work with really smart people, supporting students to excel academically, building community, finding friendships and developing connections on campus and across the world.
AH: Prior to Dartmouth, I dabbled in a lot of different things. I finally fell into coaching and realized that I really liked working with college students. I started an athletic department at Dartmouth and soon realized that I wanted to broaden my horizons and work with all students at Dartmouth because of how incredible they were. That led me into this path of being in Student Affairs and being able to work with our students more broadly, supporting them academically and holistically as an undergraduate dean for quite a few years.
How will your past experiences help you in your new roles as interim Deans of the College?
ER: I think we both care about this place a lot and care about the student experience deeply. We’ve had the luxury of being at Dartmouth for a while, so we’ve seen a lot of change. Just as important, we still see a lot of opportunities, and it’s exciting to partner with students to consider those opportunities.
AH: I would echo that. My background in athletics, moving to the Undergraduate Dean’s Office and then working with student support services has given me the opportunity to work in many areas on campus. Seeing things from a diverse perspective has been really helpful in thinking about how the different things that we interact with — whether it’s policy or procedure, or whether it’s different student situations — affect students differently.
What are some goals that you have for your interim positions?
ER: I’m really excited to work with our housing program to reimagine our residence halls and the West Wheelock project. It’s an opportunity to establish community buildings and the residence hall environment for decades to come. I’m also excited about learning with students about how we navigate difficult dialogue on campus — how we can tackle some of the hardest conversations together and learn with each other. We have an important election coming up, and we have a lot of world issues that I firmly believe that — with all of us learning from each other — we can make a difference on.
AH: I’m excited about continuing with some of the things that I’ve been working on. I was on the JED committee — a committee focused on student mental health — which was a great experience to consider how we’re thinking about our students in many ways, especially their mental health. One of the areas that was brought up was the academic action system, which outlines procedures taken when students fall below certain grade thresholds. We’ve been trying to change it. Right now, it is a fairly punitive system, and we’d rather make it a much more supportive system. Another area is really looking at crisis management on campus. How do we make sure that we’re supporting our students as a whole? Whether it’s an individual student or it’s a larger situation — we’re doing all we can to get the students the resources that they might need.
Do you have any specific plans for how to build relationships with the student body?
ER: We get to start from a really good spot. We both are already really involved in the community. I spend a lot of time as student events advisor to Dartmouth Student Government and the Student Presidential Committee on Sexual Assault. That gives us a great launching point to develop even further. I would turn to students to tell us how you want us to be present. My office door is always open. We’re here for the celebratory and positive moments, and we take really seriously the responsibility to help the community through their really hard moments as well.
What aspects of your new roles are you looking forward to the most?
ER: It is a real opportunity to work with a really talented Student Affairs staff to amplify their voices and to center the hard work they do everyday to make Dartmouth, Dartmouth. I look forward to the opportunity to do everything I can to bring students and administration together because I really believe that we can go farther together.
When were you asked to be interim Deans of the College?
ER: Oh, gosh. Very recently.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, Brown wrote that The Future of Arts and Sciences Project influenced his departure at the end of the month. His term was previously set to last until June 2025. Why did the transition happen now, before the Arts and Sciences faculty advisory vote next fall?
ER: I would let Scott Brown answer in his own words what his motivations were. Anne and I are really excited about the next chapter and how we can bring the community together.
AH: I agree. We’re looking forward to working on that Arts and Sciences reconfiguration. It’s an exciting project to think about what Dartmouth will be like in the future. Eric and I both put the students at the center of that — how are students interacting with things such as advising or student life, and how are we making it as easy as possible for students to get the resources to start a club group or become part of something? We want to make that as easy as possible for our students.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
