So You Want to be a Dean?: Pathways to the Deanship (Education)

This volume comprises chapters by humanist and interdisciplinary arts and sciences faculty who became academic deans, with reflections on how they used their position to further the liberal arts, fulfill special projects, and play a leadership role in shared governance on their campuses. These chapters shed light on how these colleagues were motivated to join the administration in public and private, large and small institutions, how their career pathways led them there, what their jobs entailed, what was some of the satisfaction they derived from their work, and, in some cases, how they felt about the experience.

So You Want to be a Dean? provides a critical update to the experience of academic leadership at American colleges and universities during the pandemic because of the focus on leading a liberal arts faculty through Covid-19. The core focus of the volume is on the experience of leadership through personal reflections provided by academic leaders, the spark that motivates them to serve their colleagues and their university in their capacity as deans.

This volume will greatly benefit mid-career academics in all fields working at American liberal arts colleges and universities who are curious about possible pathways into administration for faculty and the rewards that such career choices may hold.

Kate Conley holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA from the University of Colorado, both in French. Her BA in English is from Harvard University. Dr. Conley was the Edward Tuck Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Dartmouth College, where she served five years as Associate Dean for the Arts & Humanities. After this, she was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at William & Mary from 2012 to 2020, where she oversaw a renewal of the undergraduate curriculum renamed the COLL curriculum (for "College"). During her tenure as Dean, Dr. Conley led the effort in diversity and inclusion and the undergraduate joint-degree program with St. Andrews University in Scotland. New majors and minors were created on her watch, including programs in Native Studies, Asian and Pacific Islander American Studies, and Data Science. She has published three books on the surrealist movement with the University of Nebraska Press, Surrealist Ghostliness (2013), Robert Desnos, Surrealism, and the Marvelous in Everyday Life (2003), and Automatic Woman: The Representation of Woman in Surrealism (1996), as well as two co-edited volumes, Robert Desnos pour l'an 2000, with Marie-Claire Dumas (Gallimard, 2000), and, with Georgiana Colvile, La Femme s'entête: La Part du féminin dans le surréalisme (Lachenal & Ritter, 1998). Dr. Conley is now Chancellor Professor of Modern Languages and Literatures at William & Mary, and her current research is on surrealist collections.

Shaily Menon holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from The Ohio State University and an MS from the University of South Carolina. She earned an MSc from the University of Bombay and a BSc from Xavier University in Mumbai, India. Dr. Menon was an ACE Fellow at San Francisco State University during 2015-16. Previously, she was an Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of Biology and Natural Resources Management at Grand Valley State University. Her teaching and research have been in conservation biology, environmental ethics, global change, spatial modeling, and systems dynamics. She joined the University of New Haven as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences in May 2021, after serving as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Saint Joseph's University from 2017 to 2021. Under her leadership, the College of Arts and Sciences at Saint Joseph's University launched programs in artificial intelligence and machine learning, computational engineering and applied physics, cybersecurity, graphic design, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and public policy. She helped forge a partnership with a local biotech startup for incubator space on campus and student experiential learning in translational medicine, humoral immuno-oncology, and entrepreneurship. She facilitated the successful launch of the School of Health Studies and Education and the related search for the founding dean. At the University of New Haven, she is fostering university-wide interdisciplinary initiatives. She is active in diversity, inclusion and equity efforts and serves on the Board of Directors of two national organizations: The Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) and Asian Pacific Americans for Higher Education (APAHE).