Old Chapel Restructures Roles

Following the recent restructuring of the Board of Trustees, July 1 will mark a wide-sweeping change in faculty governance. These changes come at a pivotal transition point for the College, as the new President will assume his position in 2015.

President Ronald D. Liebowitz wrote in an all school email, “The transitional nature of the amended responsibilities is intended to provide continuity for the College’s new leader, and also to allow for important coordination with the Board and its new committee and governance structures.”

The Board of Trustees is now organized into three boards of overseers. There is a one board of overseers for the College as well as two different boards for its affiliate programs.

Shirley Collado, Dean of the College, will also become the Vice President for Student Affairs. Steve Trombulak, Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, will take on the role of Director of Sciences. Stephen Snyder, Professor of Japanese studies, will become the first ever Dean of the Language Schools.

Liebowitz wrote in his email, “[Snyder’s] new position reflects the growth of our language schools, the likely increased collaborations between the Schools and other parts of Middlebury, and the current leave taken by Associate Vice President Aline Germain-Rutherford to serve as Chief Learning Officer at Middlebury Interactive Languages.”

Andi Lloyd, the current Dean of the Faculty, will assume the newly created role of Senior Administrative Officer for the College Board of Overseers. She will also take on the role of Vice President for Academic Affairs.

“I will work with the chair and vice-chair of the College Board of Overseers to set the agenda for the year and provide materials for meetings,” Lloyd said. “Probably the best way to think about it is that I am a liaison to the Trustees serving on the College Board of Overseers.”

Tim Spears, the current Vice President for Academic Affairs, will become the Vice President for Academic Development. Spears sees his new role as bringing the needs of initiatives that might be bubbling up between faculty as well as different new and already existing programs to the college advancement and grant offices.

“It makes sense, I think, from the President’s perspective to have an administrator who is familiar with the academic program to work with his office, College Advancement, the academic administration and the faculty to develop new initiatives,” Spears said.

Suzanne Gurland, currently an Associate Professor of Psychology, will succeed Bob Cluss as the Dean of the Curriculum. Gurland has an extensive background that will prepare her well for this new position.

“One of the first committees I was ever on when I came to Middlebury was the curriculum committee,” Gurland said. “And at that time Bob Cluss was the chair of the committee, so I feel that I learned from him and got a broad perspective on the College curriculum from that experience.”

Gurland has also served on the Educational Affairs Committee and the Governance Working Group.

“Serving on the educational affairs committee has given me a broad view of the college and an appreciation for the similarities and differences among departments and programs and how things work in various parts of the curriculum,” Gurland said.

All of the new roles will have a year to adjust under the leadership of Liebowitz before the new President assumes his position in 2015.

“The administrative transitions were timed so that President Liebowitz will still be in office when the changes occur,” Lloyd said. “This gives all of us a year to get up to speed on both the new positions and the new governance structure, so when the new president comes in we should all be comfortable in our new roles.”