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BY MENGHAN JIN

In print | Published April 8, 2010

For the 2010-11 school year, Diane Anderson will serve another term as Acting Associate Dean of Academic Affairs while Dean of Students-Designate Liz Braun and the Committee on Faculty Procedures, or COFP, will search for a faculty member to permanently take the position.

After the departure of former Dean of Students Jim Larimore and former President Al Bloom last year for NYU Abu Dhabi, Anderson, then full-time associate professor of education, filled Garikai Campbell ’90’s position as Acting Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for this academic year as Campbell temporarily took on Larimore’s role.

Though Anderson originally only planned to serve one year, the Dean’s Office thought it was best to extend Anderson’s term for another academic year due to time constraints and the appointment of Braun.

Garikai Campbell ’90, acting dean of students, was Associate Dean for Academic Affairs before Anderson. On July 1 he will become the Special Assistant to the President and Associate Vice President for Planning.

“We are still a dean’s area in transition,” Anderson said. “I felt very strongly that I would like to help with that transition and not cause further disruption. I think it’s important to the students … and to the college to have as much stability as we go forward with a new dean.”

With one full year of experience working in the Dean’s Office, Anderson has formed many new relationships and strengthened many existing ones with faculty members and students. According to Campbell, Anderson is vital in maintaining continuity within the dean’s staff.

“Having someone who understands the office, has the experience of having been in the office for a full year, is well-respected by the faculty and brings such a terrific understanding of the interface between the dean’s office and the faculty is really critical,” he said.

Braun said that she is thrilled that Anderson has agreed to extend her term.

“I’ve been very impressed with her and her sense of students and the college as a whole,” she said. “I think she’s going to be a terrific colleague and I’m really looking forward to having an opportunity to work closely with her.”

While Anderson is in office next year, Braun and faculty members elected to COFP will organize a search committee consisting of other faculty, staff and students to conduct a search among faculty applicants to fill the position.

“Both Rebecca [Chopp] and myself are very committed to following the typical process that’s in place in terms of making these types of permanent faculty appointments,” Braun said.

When Anderson was first asked to be acting associate dean last summer, she was hesitant to accept the offer. Anderson said that she loved teaching the educational studies department and her research in the field of literacy so much that she needed a couple days to come to a decision.

“I have been interested for a number of years in being in a position like this at some point during my professional life; it just came sooner than I expected it to,” she said. “But the more I thought about it, the more excited I was each day to think about actually doing it.”

This year as acting associate dean for academic affairs, Anderson found a way to incorporate teaching into her schedule. She is currently teaching “Literacies and Social Identities” in the department of educational studies and plans on teaching her honors literacy research seminar next spring.

“Personally I will certainly miss her in the department, being here regularly. She’s such a joy to work with,” said Kae Kalwaic, administrative assistant for the educational studies department.

Jake Ban ’10, an Educational Studies Special Major and a previous student of Anderson’s, said that she seems well-suited for the role.

“The position is a natural fit for her and her talents,” he said. “She is probably one of the warmest people at Swarthmore.”

The department of educational studies is adjusting accordingly to the limited presence of Anderson, said Chair of the Department Ann Renninger. Other faculty in the department will cover Anderson’s courses. There is no need to hire a new faculty member, she said.

Taking on this new role, Anderson has been an excellent addition in the Dean’s Office, receiving only positive feedback from many members of the college community, President Rebecca Chopp said.

“She knows the school very well; she’s very open and accessible to students. We’ve all heard good things about her from the students with whom we’ve spoken,” Chopp said.

Pulling students into the dean’s area was perhaps the biggest obstacle Anderson faced as acting associate dean for academic affairs. Whether due to their preconceptions about deans or their busy schedules, many students do not take advantage of each dean’s willingness to help out students in times of struggle, she said.

Anderson’s own experience as a student in college was “terrible,” she said. She went to Muhlenberg College and then transferred to Montclair State College.

“I often call my experience of working at Swarthmore College my ‘do-over’ and I work really hard to help students … have a better experience in college than I was able to have and to be launched into their intellectual and professional and personal lives in a way that is much more enriching than mine was.”

When students do seek her help, during the small moments when her advice leads to sudden realizations, “those are those moments that make me feel that what I’m doing in here, behind closed doors in confidence, might make a difference,” she said.

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