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In print | Published August 27, 2009

In what he described as “the most difficult personal decision of [his] professional life,” Jim Larimore vacated his post as Dean of Students at the college to join Al Bloom in forming a new New York University Abu Dhabi campus in the United Arab Emirates. He will serve there as Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Life and Dean of Students.

The first group of students will arrive in Abu Dhabi in 2010. In the meantime, Larimore is responsible for hiring staff and creating programs that will enrich the student experience.
“Abu Dhabi is a crossroads city for the world, and we want students to experience both the culture and beauty of this place, and to help strengthen connections and interactions around the globe,” Larimore said in an e-mail.

His three years at Swarthmore will help him do the job.

“More than other places I have been, Swarthmore enabled me to be myself and to bring my values to work every day,” Larimore said. “I learned a lot about the importance of active, respectful listening and the value of dialogue as a means of trying to find common ground. And Swarthmore restored my trust in the willingness and ability of students to actively and constructively manage and resolve disagreement.”

He will also draw on his experiences as the son of multicultural army parents to settle into a new environment.

“I grew up as a ‘third culture’ person, born to a Japanese mother and a Comanche, Scots-Irish father,” Larimore said. “So, I think we headed into this move with a pretty good sense of what to expect.”

Still, the change is not without a sense of cultural shift for Larimore and his family. While many people speak English and many grocery stores stock American food in Abu Dhabi, Larimore is still trying to find a brand of chicken nuggets that his sons enjoy.

As Swarthmore’s Dean of Students, Larimore was a liaison between the administration and the students. “He brought a breadth of knowledge and a depth of understanding about student affairs to the dean’s office and to his work with students,” Acting Dean of Students Garikai Campbell ’90 said.
“We were all sorry to see him go,” Associate Dean for Student Life Myrt Westphal said. “He was a wise, experienced dean. Those are qualities that are nice to have in the Dean’s office.” Westphal also remembered how welcoming and friendly he was. “He would stop by the office and joke and have a cup of coffee,” Westphal said.

The college is now beginning its search for a new dean. Provost Constance Hungerford described the process as a scaled-down version of last year’s presidential search. Students: Dan Chung ’10, Urooj Kahn ’10 and Leah Rethy ’10; three professors: Andrew Ward, Syd Carpenter and Eric Jensen; and three members of the president’s staff: Hungerford, Vice-President Maurice Eldridge ‘61 and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jim Bock ’90, make up the new dean search committee.
The group is responsible for creating a job description, evaluating and interviewing candidates and responding to the community’s concerns. They hope to finish their tasks by spring break.
“[Student Council] spent a lot of time trying to put together a group of students who represent a wide range of experience at Swarthmore, and who, we felt, would do a very good job articulating different views from around campus,” Student Council Vice President Nate Erskine ’10 said.
Hungerford said that similar thinking went into faculty selection for the search committee. Each professor is from a different division of the college, allowing a variety of interests to be represented in the search for the next Dean of Students.

The group will also take time to gather input from the student body. Hungerford said that this process should be less confidential than the presidential search, allowing students to know more about the candidates before the dean is chosen.

The committee’s first meeting is scheduled for Sept. 1. They will begin by creating a job description, but it is already clear what qualities a strong candidate should have.

Hungerford listed “smart,” “aware of current issues and standards in the area of student affairs,” and “attuned to what is distinctive about Swarthmore.” Ultimately, her goal is “to get the right person for Swarthmore, the best possible person for Swarthmore.”

Erskine added another quality to the list. “A great strength Dean Larimore brought to the table is the fact that he was an extremely good listener,” Erskine said. “I think that the next candidate is going to have some fairly big shoes to fill.”

The current administration has reshuffled to fill Larimore’s role while the college works to find a new Dean of Students.

Campbell, previously the Dean for Academic Affairs, will serve as the Acting Dean of Students for the upcoming academic year. Professor of Education Diane Anderson has moved to fill Campbell’s spot in the meantime.

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