Editorial
On the Way In
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The last year has been one of transition for three of the University’s 14 schools and colleges. Last March, Cornell announced that Lisa Staiano-Coico, dean of the College of Human Ecology, was leaving the Big Red for a provost position at Temple. Months later, AAP Dean Moshen Mostafavi told the University he would be leaving Ithaca to lead the Graduate School of Design at Harvard. And just last month, the Johnson School of Management concluded a two-year dean search by appointing Interim Dean Joseph Thomas to a permanent position at the school.
Dean searches are a part of academia, and Cornell has certainly seen deans and presidents come and go in the past. Still, concurrent transition at three of the University’s graduate and undergraduate schools and colleges is striking. Cornell would no doubt like to maintain some consistency at the top of the University hierarchy, and the announced departure of two deans in the same year and three over a two-year span is probably not what the Big Red had in mind.
The good news is that C.U. has a fine history of dean retention. Robert Swieringa, Thomas’ predecessor at the Johnson School, held his post for 10 years before resigning in April 2006, and Susan Henry, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, has long been a leader at the University.
Along with good rates of dean retention, Cornell has also demonstrated a proactive approach to the dean search process. Thomas secured the Johnson School deanship after spending nine months in the position on an interim basis, and the University has made public its hope to name a new AAP dean sometime this fall. When deans step down, Cornell spares no time in its search for replacements.
As impressive as the University’s progress is in securing talented candidates to fill vacant deanships, though, there’s nothing like continuity when it comes to academic research. Architecture Prof. Milton Curry told The Sun in February that the AAP dean is especially important if the college hopes to attract research funding and secure the “appropriate resources” for long-term research initiatives, initiatives rooted in a concrete and continuous academic direction.
Curry’s insight is applicable beyond AAP. In every school, continuity of leadership is the foundation of long-term success. Without stability, colleges will ultimately find it difficult to establish a viable long-term strategy and maintain a successful academic direction, no matter the talent of the people at the helm.
We’re glad that Cornell has been so proactive in its search for replacement deans at the Johnson School and elsewhere. Still, it’s concerning that three of the University’s schools and colleges are in a state of transition. Cornell students need stability and continuity at their University, and it’s up to the Big Red to make sure the students get that stability in the future. C.U. is on its way to filling the many vacated deanships on campus. Let’s hope the University can keep those positions filled for a while.