By Laura Sanicola

New channels of communication, new faculty and a new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences—these are among the things that Dean Harrington expects the Fordham community to experience in the near future. According to Harrington, Dr. Stephen Freedman, the provost of Fordham University, will be announcing the search for a new permanent dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. At the convocation earlier this year, Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, stated that the search for a new dean would be national and include both  internal as well as external candidates. As an interim dean and current dean of faculty, Harrington is not a candidate for the position.

“This search for a dean in this particular role has historical significance, as the undergraduate college is the biggest and one for the most successful parts of Fordham University,” said Harrington. “Father McShane was a dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which speaks for itself.”

Harrington assumed the position of interim dean in April 2014 after former dean Michael Latham announced his departure. Harrington works above Dr. Carla Romney, Rev. John Dzieglewicz, S.J. and Dr. Rosemary Cooney, the current associate deans at Fordham.

“In the past year, we have created a more clearly defined hierarchy of deans that the new incoming dean will be able to use for effectiveness and communication.”

According to Harrington, the provost will release a job description outlining qualifications Fordham is seeking in its next dean of Arts and Sciences. However, he does not expect that it will be radically different than those traditionally posted.

“The school wants an academic leader who will develop programs sought by students and who can communicate effectively with students, faculty and alumni,” he said.

In order to further improve communications between students and administration, the United Student Government is reinstating the Dean’s Council, which will be comprised of individuals representing all four classes at Fordham College at Rose Hill. Nicholas Sawicki, FCRH ’15 ,and vice president of Fordham College at Rose Hill, will act as the chairman and manager of the council.

“The primary focus [of the council] is to advise Dean Harrington on a variety of issues but to also formulate programming and enacting various initiatives to better the academic life of the college,” said Sawicki. “This semester, we are focusing on supporting and promoting new opportunities for research with a research database coming online, making career services more accessible to liberal arts students through residence hall program programming and promoting study abroad and prestigious fellowships.”

Another important channel of communication between administration and students is through the Fordham Club, which was established in 1954. It comprises 30 seniors who were nominated by faculty based on their academic record and involvement in extracurricular activities.  “The Fordham Club is about making this group of students define the final year for the class,” said Harrington. “Community outreach programs and aid for pregnant students, victims of sexual assault and disabled students were among the issues we discussed at our first meeting on Sept. 23.

As the dean of faculty, Harrington is highly aware of faculty concerns. Other than the ongoing healthcare negotiations taking place, Harrington states that faculty and administration are currently in negotiation over annual salary adjustment. He also indicated how the size of the class of 2018 was going to affect the size of the faculty. “Fr. McShane is public about maintaining that at least 60 percent of all the courses are going to be taught by full-time faculty,” he said. “That means we need to hire more full-time faculty.”

Harrington reports that the university has hired about 100 faculty members in the past five years. “The concern always exists that if the university does not hire enough faculty in certain disciplines, there will be no professors covering areas that hold student interest.”

In particular, Fordham has hired several new science faculty members and a new Dean of Science Carla Romney as part of a campaign to expand the sciences on campus. “All of the faculty we hire are exceptional, but Fordham’s lack of laboratory space sometimes poses a challenge when trying to recruit faculty in the hard sciences,” he said. “We are maxed out on space on the Rose Hill campus.”

In particular, Fordham is concerned with increasing office space, creating new facilities and upgrading classrooms. He estimates that around 10 more classrooms become “smart classrooms” each summer. However, all these endeavors are costly, and student tuition is used for many of the operations.

“Critics of higher education believe that private school is overpriced and value is not there,” Harrington said. “Offering scholarships is important, but it only masks the real issue at hand. As a Catholic and Jesuit school, we don’t want Fordham to be considered a luxury item. The task remains on how to be accessible and remain financially solvent.”

__________

Laura Sanicola is the Assistant News Editor for The Fordham Ram.