College appoints Clagett to head up Admissions Office

Author: Thomas C. Drescher

Robert S. Clagett, current senior Admissions officer and associate director of Financial Aid at Harvard College, has recently accepted appointment as Middlebury's new dean of admissions. As dean, Clagett will be responsible for supervising the operations of the Admissions Office and dictating undergraduate admissions policy. He will take up his responsibilities in Emma Willard House on July 15, replacing long-time Director of Admissions John Hanson, who will retire at the end of the semester.

According to Secretary of the College and committee chair Eric Davis, the search process began shortly before Thanksgiving. Advertisements in The Chronicle of Higher Education and notices sent to other colleges and universities helped garner about 40 applicants, nine of whom were selected as semi-finalists to be interviewed for one hour by the search committee either in Boston or on campus. Of these nine, three finalists were invited to campus for more extensive interviewing and the opportunity to meet with Admissions officers, faculty, administrators, coaches and student leaders. Clagett, a 21-year veteran of the Harvard College Admissions Office and father of a member of the Middlebury class of 2006, was the consensus choice of the committee, according to Davis.

Davis cited a number of Clagett's particular strengths, including his 21 years of experience, "with steadily increasing responsibilities," at Harvard, during which time he has acquired "a deep knowledge of the issues related to admissions at highly selective institutions."

Davis also mentioned the value of his relationships with college counselors at many of the high schools from which both Middlebury and Harvard draw applicants and his international background - in particular "his commitment to internationalizing the student body and to international education."

Clagett's background in the area of student body diversity was especially impressive, said Davis, "including his work on educational outreach programs for middle school students in the Boston/Cambridge area and with Harvard alumni around the country."

Davis also praised Clagett for his plans to incorporate more faculty input into the admissions process and his recognition that "admissions issues are very nuanced, with multiple shades of gray."

According to a campus-wide e-mail sent out last week by President Ronald D. Liebowitz, Clagett's duties at Harvard included recruiting and evaluating applicants from many areas of the United States and abroad, serving as admissions representative to public and private schools, heading up several regional admissions subcommittees and supervising financial aid for Harvard first-years.

"[Clagett] has also served as program director for the Harvard College Early Educational Outreach program, heading up awareness programs for middle school students and their parents in the Cambridge and Boston public schools, and coordinating early outreach initiatives by Harvard alumni groups nationwide," the e-mail added.

As a candidate, Clagett "demonstrated a deep knowledge of the complex issues facing highly selective institutions as they strive to recruit student bodies of the utmost quality," Liebowitz asserted in the e-mail. "He will help guide Middlebury's sustained effort to seek and attract the brightest and most talented students from across the country and around the world."

Charles A. Dana Professor of Political Science and search committee member Murray Dry said he was "impressed with Clagett from the outset, as were all of [the committee members] who interviewed all the candidates, both here and in Boston."

Dry cited Clagett's familiarity with financial aid, work on outreach programs and significant experience at Harvard as particularly desirably characteristics. "While there are some differences between Harvard and Middlebury," Dry said, "[Clagett] knows Middlebury as a parent and he was ready to step up to the challenges of the number one position in [the Admissions Office]. I think he will do a very good job for us as dean of admissions."

Clagett said that he sees many similarities in the approaches to admissions used by institutions like Harvard and Middlebury, and thinks his work at Harvard has prepared him sufficiently for what he will do at Middlebury.

However, Clagett cautioned, "It is also important to remember that Harvard and Middlebury are different places in many ways, and our goal should be not only to select the best students that we can, but also to choose those who will be the best fit for the institution."

Reaffirming Davis' commendations, Clagett explained that he has "become familiar with hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of secondary schools and counselors throughout the U.S. and the world over during [his] years at Harvard," and that these networking efforts will be notably useful when he assumes his new post as dean of admissions at Middlebury.

Clagett also added that his "experience in the [financial aid] field has always helped [him] to understand the complex ways in which [admissions and financial aid] interact."

"Most of all," he said, "I want to maintain the more democratic, committee-oriented approach to making admissions decisions that is already in place at Middlebury, so that we can learn from each other's perspectives and create the most interesting and talented first-year class possible."

Clagett said that while he wishes to avoid proposing any changes until he has acquired a better sense of the College's admissions policy status quo, he does hope to "more effectively publicize Middlebury's strengths - its interdisciplinary programs in Environmental Studies and International Studies, for example, its excellent academic advising system, the Commons System and, of course, the athletic and arts programs," all of which, he pointed out, "distinguish Middlebury from many other liberal arts colleges. People know what a friendly, close-knit community there is at Middlebury, but I hope we can further enhance the academic reputation that Middlebury so richly deserves."

Hoping to build on the "strong foundation" established by his predecessor Hanson, Clagett said his main goal will be to ensure that the Admissions Office is making thoughtful and well-informed decisions. "Since [our] mission is central to the mission of the whole College," he added, "I also want the office to 'keep its finger on the pulse' of the institution by maintaining a high profile in the College and to seek input from many groups on campus about how we can be doing our jobs even better."

Clagett also shared his thoughts on recent discussions about the College's "human capital." "Middlebury starts off with the significant advantage of a first-rate student body and faculty," Clagett asserted. "The same applies to the faculty and administrators whom I met during my visits to campus in the interview process. During that time many people talked to me about trying to attract more 'pointy' students to the College. I guess I prefer the term 'edgy,' because to me, 'pointy' implies mainly intellectual lopsidedness. We want more of that certainly, but to me 'edgy' implies not only the intellectual but also the artistic, athletic, journalistic and all the other talents that we want to have represented in the student body.

"I suppose if I were to have a goal in terms of the already-impressive 'human capital' that exists at Middlebury," he continued, "it would be to make it even more difficult than it already is to generalize about whatever the 'typical' Middlebury student is all about."

Clagett affirmed his commitment to the concept of "diversity," defining it as an idea that is "not only ethnic, but also socio-economic, geographic, cultural, religious, political [and] extracurricular. Therefore our goal should be to create the most interesting mix of students that we possibly can, based on the notion that students
' educations will result just as much from their interactions with each other as they will through working with the faculty and staff."

In describing the ideal Middlebury student, Clagett said he understands this to be someone with the "passion, ability, self-motivation, curiosity, initiative and overall talent to take advantage of all that the College has to offer and who will therefore milk the experience for all that it is worth. It is precisely those qualities that we are looking for in the admissions process."

Clagett received a B.A. in German Civilization from Brown University in 1973 and an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1991.

As an undergraduate, he spent his junior year studying in Kiel, Germany, and he later taught German and history at Governor Dummer Academy in Byfield, Mass., before joining the Harvard admissions team. He has also served as a faculty member at the International Schule in Hamburg, Germany and the Director of College Counseling at the Lincoln School in San José, Costa Rica.