The new UW-Madison dean of students must be open to \diverse opinions and ideas"" and highly receptive to student input, according to student members of the Dean of Students Search and Screen Committee, who spoke at a press conference Tuesday.
The committee, which is composed of five students and five faculty, will find a replacement for former Dean of Students Alicia Chavez, who resigned in January. Committee members include UW-Madison senior Jessica Miller, junior Fatima Ashraf, senior Alex Conant, senior Darren Martin and freshman Emily McWilliams. The committee described qualities they hoped to see in the future dean and outlined the upcoming search process.
""I'm looking for someone amiable, right off the bat, easy to work with,"" Ashraf said.
Other members agreed, also placing priority on finding someone who will represent diverse interests on the UW-Madison campus as well as understand the active role of students at the university.
Hiring someone who will have ""more interaction with students"" is critical, according to Brian Gadow, chair of the Shared Governance Committee. He said many students had expressed dissatisfaction with Chavez, citing her as ""not very accessible"" and ""not very friendly in terms of student governance.""
In addition, Gadow said the committee hopes the replacement dean will possess skill in handling academic freedom issues, a vital asset considering the outspoken UW-Madison atmosphere.
Both Gadow and Martin said they were surprised by the lack of applications for the student positions on the committee.
""Hopefully people will take more of an interest in academic and social affairs [in the future],"" Martin said.
According to committee co-chair Miller, who is also chair of ASM, the search for a new dean is just beginning. The committee was slated to receive its ""initial charge to find the most qualified applicant"" Thursday afternoon from UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Paul Barrows. From there, she said, the committee will publicize its search and eventually collect r??sum??s. Reference checks of potential applicants will follow. After interviews, a short list of three to five applicants will most likely be used to determine who gets the job.
""The hope is to have someone chosen by this summer,"" Miller said, although she stressed that the quality of the applicants would be key in determining a time frame for the decision process.
Without satisfactory candidates, ""we could get all the way through [the application process] and have to start over,"" she said.
