By RUDI HEMPE
CELS News Editor

Interim dean situations are not rare in academia. When a college dean leaves for another challenge as CELS Dean Jeffrey Seemann did recently, the process of finding a replacement starts.

But the wheels turn slowly because most often the search is national, the number of applicants can be substantial, and the complicated process of culling the number of applicants, interviewing several and selecting someone who will fit the mission, vision and monetary constraints of a college takes a lot of time.

The quest to find a new dean for the burgeoning College of the Environment and Life Sciences will be no exception—there are indications the slot may not be filled permanently for at least a year.

A common perception is that the period between the time a dean leaves and a permanent one is named is mainly a holding process—with few changes and scarcely any innovation.

If Dr. Nancy Fey-Yensan, CELS interim dean, fulfills her plans the next several months around the college will be much more than a caretaking period.

"I’m honored and thrilled to be back at CELS," she said in a recent interview. Fey-Yensan, who came to CELS in 1996 as an assistant professor of nutrition, left the college two years ago to become the associate dean in the College of Human Sciences and Service (HSS).

When Seemann left, Provost Donald DeHayes met with CELS faculty and asked them to submit names of people who they felt should be considered for interim dean. DeHayes interviewed a few of them and selected Fey-Yensan.

She jumped at the opportunity with the proviso that she could apply for the permanent deanship if she wanted to. Although at an early meeting with her administrative staff she was unsure about applying for the permanent slot, she now welcomes the opportunity to do so.

But that possibility is far from her mind these days. For the last few weeks since she was named interim she has been on a meeting marathon—up to eight sessions a day.

"A lot of this job is listening to people," she said. "This college has done very well the last eight years," she added citing that the interdisciplinary program of working around the science rather then just working within a department is becoming a CELS plus.

She has met with all the department chairs, both as a group and in one-to-one sessions to learn about their needs and concerns. She also wants to know about the good things.

"I asked the chairs to give me a list of the ‘points of pride’ they have to share

about their departments," she said. And to reinforce one of her big interests she added, "I want to make sure outreach is also highlighted."

Outreach is a magic word to Fey-Yensan. Three years ago, she co-chaired an all-day seminar on outreach at the University Club and the session was well-attended, garnering some interesting ideas. Now, as CELS interim dean she wants to take steps to encourage and expand outreach. "We have to see how the pieces fit together. We need to try to blend outreach with student education and research."

Speaking of student education, the number one priority on her list is to restructure the curriculum. The order from the Board of Governors through the Provost’s office is to identify majors with low enrollments and to reduce the number of courses. ‘"We absolutely will make it happen," she said. "We will have the report in by December and the expectation is that the changes will be reviewed in the spring. "Of course we have to make sure we have enough resources to handle the curriculum," she said, adding that it is important that whatever changes come about the transition will be seamless to the students, especially to those still in the pipeline.

Fey-Yensan feels one of the reasons she was selected as interim was that she understands the land grant system. Before leaving for HSS two years ago she was half-time assistant director for land grant in CELS working with Associate Dean Rick Rhodes. Based on that experience, she has named Rhodes as director of the Agricultural Experiment station (AES) and Cooperative Extension. ‘It’s important that the USDA has one point of contact with the administration," she said.

Another qualification that she thinks helped her get the interim appointment was her experience garnered at HSS. "In HSS I learned different ways to get business done," she said.

One of the things she wants to create in CELS is a junior faculty mentoring program in an effort to get connected to the pre-tenure faculty. One technique will be to have seasoned faculty members meet with them and talk about the career things they did or should have done when they were newer faculty members.

Another major interest of Fey-Yensan is student affairs where constant improvement is a must for student success and retention.

The Browning Hall initiative, where many CELS freshmen are housed together in a model for living/learning programs, has to be revitalized, she said. Besides study groups and other collective activities she wants to expand and improve a CELS Peer Mentor system to help students with their problems.

As for biotechnology—a major thrust for CELS the last eight years—she said she has no intention of taking the foot off the accelerator. "The connections with the biotech industry here and in Providence are extremely important. Biotechnology has to be moving forward."

That doesn’t mean that other aspects of the college will be ignored, she says. Quite the contrary. "The traditional life sciences should not be left out of the limelight. We have to refocus on the natural sciences and human health," to which the public can readily relate, more so perhaps than to the complicated world of biotechnology.

As to the $64,000 question that has been hovering ever since the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences opened last February—yes the fourth floor of the building will be finished. The money has been raised and the expectation is that the fourth floor on both wings will be in use sometime in the fall of 2010.

There are other administrative things on Fey-Yensan’s "to-do" list. Among them she plans to use the department chairs as her primary advisory board, she wants to raise the visibility of the college’s graduate programs and she wants to create an office of graduate studies. The fast pace of the last few weeks has been made possible in large part, she said, because of the support of her administrative staff on the first floor of Woodward Hall.

What will happened with the search a year from now is anyone’s guess. But for the next several months, her "to-do" list is jammed.

She doesn’t mind, though. "That’s why you get into administration," she said "—to make things happen."

Published: September 1, 2009.