A new look at Caltech student affairs

As Caltech continues the process of finding a new vice president for student affairs, following Christopher Brennen’s stepping down, the administration has also taken the opportunity to reevaluate its overall approach to student affairs.

A search committee for the position was formed, which received input from an external advisory committee. The search committee, chaired by Vice Provost David Goodstein, includes professors Roger Blandford, Kim Border, Paul Jennings, Henry Lester, and Kerry Sieh; staff members Kevin Austin, Carolyn Merkel, and Sharon Patterson; faculty and staff member Miriam Feldblum; and undergraduate Martha-Helene Stapleton and graduate student Chip Sumner.

The external committee, comprising student affairs professionals from other institutions and led by Tom Anderson, a former Caltech vice president for institute relations, was charged with providing feedback both on the position and on Caltech student affairs overall. After meeting with Caltech community members in February, the committee issued its findings in a 15-page report.

President David Baltimore has released the report to the Caltech community with the understanding that, viewed as an opinion and not a planning document, the report can be valuable in ongoing student affairs discussions. While he believes the report is limited in its consideration of the role of students—”student self-governance is a great Caltech tradition and was not, to my mind, fully appreciated by the visitors in their short stay on the campus”—and in its options for the vice president position, Baltimore concurs with a number of its findings.

“The report does emphasize some deficiencies in our present operations and organization that deserve serious attention by the next vice president,” he said, noting that its emphasis on evaluation was very appropriate. He also was convinced of the need to make Caltech education a communal task, involving faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and student affairs: “We need more collaborative interaction and coordination of the various communities, a shared sense that education is everyone’s joint responsibility.”

The external committee made four recommendations: 1) to hire a full-time professional vice president for student affairs; 2) to create a new position for a dean of undergraduate studies, who would replace the current dean of students and report to the vice president for student affairs and provost; 3) that, on arrival of the new vice president, the Student Affairs Office should begin an extensive self-assessment and planning process; and 4) that the Board of Trustees should create a committee on student life, including student representatives.

Baltimore agreed that a full-time vice president, who fully participates in both the administration and in the national network of student affairs professionals, is needed. Rather than hiring a professional outright, his first choice would be to appoint a Caltech faculty member with the desire and qualifications. Lacking such a person, a professional with an understanding of and commitment to the uniqueness of Caltech student life would be an alternative. The search committee led by Goodstein is now charged with finding that full-time vice president.

A restructuring of student affairs and an expanded role for the dean would also be in order; the dean would remain as a half-time position and, in regard to undergraduate studies, report to the provost. “The expanded role of the dean would relate centrally to the goal of having students flourish, not just survive,” Baltimore said. Lastly, he noted that the Board of Trustees does not favor creating a new committee, but has asked for more opportunities to hear directly from students than have traditionally been available.

Baltimore anticipates that a full-time vice president will allow the Institute to increase communication between administration and students, to provide a richer student life, and to move forward with projects such as renovation of student houses and construction of a campus activities center that will benefit many generations of students.

“These are all big goals and it will take a very thoughtful, imaginative and empa-thetic person to do the job,” he said. “The key will be to strengthen Caltech without losing the characteristics that make it such a special place for educating the world’s finest students.”

This article is adapted from President Baltimore’s letter to the Caltech community in response to the Report of the External Committee on Student Affairs. Caltech community members can access the full letter and report online at http://pr.caltech.edu/cit/pres/letter.html.
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