BY JACQUELINE SMALL

In print | Published April 1, 2010

The administration has begun the process of forming the Deans Scoping Committee, which will evaluate the duties and qualities required to fill Timothy Sams’s vacated position of assistant dean and Black Cultural Center director. Sams held the position until his departure for NYU Abu Dhabi at the beginning of this semester.

Currently, the committee’s members include Garikai Campbell ’90, the acting dean of students and designated special assistant to the president and associate vice president for planning, and Darryl Smaw, associate dean for multicultural affairs, who has been spending half of his time filling in Sams’ role at the BCC.

There will also be at least four students, at least two faculty members, and at least one alumnus, none of whom has yet been selected.

The Scoping Committee is a precursor to a search committee, and its job will likely be finished between the end of April and the beginning of summer. The administration hopes to have a new director and dean by the beginning of next year’s spring semester, according to an e-mail sent to the entire student body by Sonja Spoo ’13, Student Council appointments chair. The e-mail encouraged students to apply to be on the committee. Applications must be submitted by midnight on Sunday, April 4.

Marsha-Gail Davis ’10, the BCC House Coordinator, expressed eagerness for the position to be filled. “I’m just very happy to see that this is happening. We’re not going to allow too much time to pass after we lost someone, and it’s good that we were able to get the process going in due time,” she said.

Spoo, who will not be part of the committee, said, “The scoping committee will be discussing the position, meeting with members of the community, and trying to get a feel for what the whole school needs, so that they can develop a somewhat detailed job description to give to the Dean Search Committee.”

The committee has three goals: to determine what duties will comprise the position and what will be needed over the next several years to determine what personality traits and qualifications are necessary; and to provide guidance for the search committee.

Smaw said in an e-mail that he could not comment on what he thinks is needed in the position until he meets with the committee to discuss it.

Campbell said, “Basically it has those three roles to engage the community in determining what we need in that position. … I will be a member of that committee, trying to guide its work, so I will be reaching out to students, faculty and staff.”

Davis said that while many important qualities are needed in the BCC director, the most important is that he or she establish a community with “a strong cultural foundation to be here for the coming years for the black underclassmen who are going to come in.”

Spoo said that she thought Sams was “an amazing BCC director,” and added that she hoped the next director would “be an advocate for the BCC community and be available for us. I hope they advocate for students, and just encourage us to work harder and work together to benefit the whole community.”

The administration hopes that the future dean will stay for at least five to 10 years.

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