Dean Wanted
Oct 14, 2010
1 Comment
Boston College Law School has begun advertising for its new permanent Dean, having engaged Witt/Kieffer, a professional executive staffing firm (http://wittkieffer.com), to help in the process.
Boston College described the law school and what an ideal candidate would be on a public advertisement on http://www.insidehighered.com (you can apply for the job if you think you’re qualified). The advertisement for the position describes the ideal candidate:
The successful candidate will have an outstanding record of scholarship and teaching or legal service, be a proven leader and administrator, and desire to further the Jesuit, Catholic dimensions of the Law School’s mission. The dean reports to the provost of the University.
See also the American Bar Association’s Career Center. The last permanent Dean, John Garvey, left the law school abruptly this summer to take over a position as the President of the Catholic University of America. See the full story here.
Professor George Brown currently serves as the interim dean. Dean Brown is the Robert Drinan, S.J., Professor of Law at Boston College Law School where he specializes in national security law, federalism, and government ethics. He traditionally teaches Constitutional Law to first-year law students. This fall he teaches National Security Law and in the Spring he will be teaching Antiterrorism and Federal Criminal Law.
Eagleionline Question(s) of the Day: Students have weighed in before about the next permanent dean.Eagleionline hosted debates between students on this topic over the summer. This time around, we ask a more fundamental question: which stakeholders should have a voice in the selection process? Should the process include soliciting input from students? From law school faculty?
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What do they mean by “Jesuit, Catholic dimensions”? Having spoken with some professors about this, it appears that the word “Catholic” was added to BC Law’s various marketing literature some time ago — previously BC Law simply marketed itself as “Jesuit.” It seems to me that the Jesuit order, which is a Catholic order is nevertheless distinct from “Catholicism” — Jesuits are less likely than Catholics to hold pro-life, anti-masturbation, and anti-gay views. In any event, I wonder if the school is consciously looking for a Catholic to fill its top spot. I think that more diverse, qualified candidates would apply for the position if a prerequisite for it was *not* furthering “the Jesuit, Catholic dimensions” of the school; but rather furthering simply “the Jesuit dimensions” of the school.