When the Dean Search Committee was first announced last month, PrezBo set the projected deadline as the end of the academic year—a.k.a. today.  But, according to CCSC President and newest member of the search party Karishma Habbu, a permanent Columbia College Dean won’t be chosen until the end of May, at the earliest. A detailed outline of what’s been accomplished so far, and what remains on the to-do list can be found after the jump.

The so-far highlights include an explanation from PrezBo of “the upcoming structural changes to the Arts and Sciences,” a discussion of feedback from the town hall, and scrutiny of the nominations list. According to Habbu, the committee has narrowed the candidates down to four.  They’ve also spoken with Nicholas Dirks, EVP of Arts and Sciences, and Dean of GSAS Carlos Alfonso about the relationship the future CC Dean will have with GSAS.

Up next, the search committee will interview and evaluate the four Dean-prospies, “debrief” (we can only hope it involves snack giveaways), and announce their decision.

An outline of the past/present/future of the search, provided by Habbu and fellow committee members Mary Kircher and JT Ramseur:

Meeting 1:

• Introductions of Committee Members
• List of Nominations up until that point
• Given Job Description of Dean used for 2008 Dean MMA Search
• President Bollinger explained several of the upcoming structural changes

Meeting 2:

• Full list of nominations was presented to the committee
• Decided that nominees would be contacted that week about whether they would like to remain under consideration, ask them to present C.V.s
• Committee would meet next week to narrow down candidates we will interview
• Discussion of administrative role of the Dean with relation to GSAS (Done with Carlos Alonso and Nicholas Dirks)
• Feedback from student town hall was presented
• Committee tasked with coming up with written questions/qualities to look for in interviews before next meeting
• Interviews will likely take place after finals week (ie. timeline slightly extended)

Meeting 3:

• Four nominees accepted consideration: Each candidate’s CV was reviewed + Discussion
• Decided to interview all 4 candidates
• Decided to schedule 1 more meeting to determine interview questions/what would be asked of candidates/ what other criteria to use
• Decided to schedule interviews NOW so maximum number of committee members could attend

May 18th = fourth meeting

• Purpose will LIKELY be to determine how we want to evaluate each candidate (format of interview, written statement?, recommendation letters?) – we’re carefully trying to figure out the BEST/ most effective way to do this

May 24th/into May 25th =

• Candidate interviews AND debrief