Search for New Dean of Student Life Underway

After the unexpected resignation of former Dean of Student Life Stephen Lassonde only days before the beginning of the spring semester, a committee is now actively searching for his replacement.

The search committee is composed of four students, two Faculty Deans, one House Resident Dean, and two College administrators, according to University spokesperson Rachael Dane.

A search firm specializing in academic hires will also be involved with the process, according to the College’s Dean of Administration and Finance Sheila C. Thimba.

Now that the search committee has been formally convened, the group will identify a list of characteristics they hope to see in the new Dean of Student Life.

“We see this as part of a holistic education and we want to use this as an opportunity to continually intertwine our holistic view of the intellectual, social, and personal transformation,” Dean of the College Rakesh Khurana said.

Dean of Freshmen Thomas A. Dingman ’67 took over as interim dean of Student Life on Feb. 1, leading both the Freshman Dean’s Office and Office of Student Life for the majority of this semester.

“I don’t have a clearly defined agenda,” Dingman said of his new position when he began in early February, adding that launching initiatives as an interim dean would be inopportune. “I know work that I’ve inherited, and I will be focused largely on that in the short term.”

Dingman wrote in an email Wednesday he has had no role in the search committee, and has not been involved in the search process “in any way.”

Khurana said he values the student input the committee has received, and that the process is proceeding for the most part on schedule. He did not specify an end date by which he hopes to have the position filled.

“The most important thing is that we get the right person,” Khurana said.

Despite Lassonde’s departure from his role at the College, he has continued teaching the course History 74J: “Children and Childhood in America, 1640-Present” and still lives in Mather House.

—Staff writer Jalin P. Cunningham can be reached at jalin.cunningham@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @JalinCunningham.

—Staff writer Ignacio Sabate can be reached at ignacio.sabate@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter@ignacio_sabate

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