After Dean of Trinity College Robert Thompson steps down from his position in August, he will leave behind a big pair of shoes to fill.
Those large shoes will be filled by Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences George McLendon and a new senior associate dean to oversee educational programs. The new structure of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences will parallel the staff structure at the Pratt School of Engineering, said Tod Laursen, Pratt's senior associate dean for education.
A search committee was convened in Fall '07, after Thompson announced his intention to retire in October, to find another senior associate dean to complement McLendon and current Trinity Senior Associate Dean Gerald Wilson.
Search Committee Chair Al Crumbliss, who is also the dean of the natural sciences, said he expects the University to make an offer to a candidate by the end of the semester.
A bespectacled intellectual who loves discussing issues of pedagogy and higher education, Thompson will return to his position as a professor of psychology and neuroscience this Fall and-not surprisingly-will undertake research in undergraduate education at research universities.
Since ascending to the deanship in 1999, Thompson has overseen comprehensive changes to the undergraduate experience. His accomplishments include strengthening Trinity's graduation requirements, expanding the certificate program and improving undergraduate research opportunities.
Then and now
The current structure of a faculty dean and a Trinity dean emerged in the late 1990s and was designed to accommodate Thompson's transition from a psychology professor to a top administrator. Prior to Thompson's appointment, the dean structure included a single dean of Trinity and a senior associate dean-the same structure the college will be adopting this Fall.
"We used to have the dean of Trinity and the dean of the faculty of arts and sciences be the same person," Dean of Undergraduate Education Steve Nowicki said. "It was split off and so what we're doing is going back to the old way."
Crumbliss said the current structure allowed for large-scale changes to the Trinity curriculum, including the implementation of Curriculum 2000, a revamping of the academic advising system and the development of the certificate program. Thompson spearheaded many of these initiatives throughout his tenure.
McLendon noted that the dual-dean structure currently in place developed largely around Thompson's strengths. Both the single- and double-dean structures probably would have accomplished similar goals over the past decade, but the goals could not have been achieved without Thompson, McLendon said.
"Bob was able to accomplish what Bob accomplished in part by virtue of being Bob," he said. "[Bob's accomplishments] had more to do with his energy and commitment than with structure."
The search process
Crumbliss said he hopes the senior associate dean will expand on Thompson's successful projects and work collaboratively with Nowicki, McLendon and the other Trinity deans.
"We are looking for a person who will provide intellectual leadership for the undergraduate program and [for] somebody who can manage the operation of the dean's office," Crumbliss said.
He added that the new position will affect faculty interaction more than student life. The dean will be responsible primarily for educational development and curriculum changes.
"I don't think this will have any substantive effect on day-to-day operations or working through projects," Nowicki said. "In the long run it will be a good thing because it will allow for more coherent higher-level coordination of issues."
Coordination stems beyond just issues within Trinity, Laursen said. He added that a long-range goal for Pratt is to improve "substantive mutual engagement" with Trinity, and a parallel structure will help streamline communication between the two schools.
"There are a lot of [Pratt] students who don't make the most out of the humanities opportunities that Trinity presents them and a lot of Trinity students get no benefit from engineering at all," Laursen said. "I really want to change that and I know Bob wanted to change that too, and I expect that to continue to be a focus for the new senior associate dean."
Returning to the classroom
Without the responsibility of overseeing the academic progress of Trinity, Thompson said he plans to go back to teaching in the Department of Psychology this Fall.
"It is necessary for me to step away, and I feel like I've accomplished much for what I intended to do," he said. "I've had an incredible amount of support from the deans and Trinity College and it has been really gratifying."
During his tenure, Thompson has set out to enhance the Undergraduate Writing Program, boost undergraduate research and promote interdisciplinarity.
Looking forward, Thompson said he hopes Trinity will develop "pedagogies of engagement," which are problem-focused, experiential and practice-oriented means of education.
"In 1997, we were attending to how undergraduate education fit in with Duke as a major research university," he said. "We came to the determination that we could do a better job with undergraduate education."
Administrators and faculty members who worked with Thompson said they were impressed with his vision and grateful for the support he expressed for their programs.
"Bob Thompson is who made the University Writing Program possible," Director of the University Writing Program Joseph Harris said. "He provided a vision for the program, ongoing support-both intellectually and materially-and represented the interests of the program in the Allen Building."
Thompson said he plans to take a sabbatical in 2009, but added that he will not go on leave until he develops a solid plan for his time away. He did not rule out the possibility of taking on more administrative roles after his sabbatical.
"Dean Thompson has been a great leader in promoting more intensive research experiences for undergrads, for extending service opportunities and linking them to research and [for the] fostering of interdisciplinary certificate programs," Provost Peter Lange said. "We have taken great strides in these areas under his leadership."
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