Officials name new College of Arts and Sciences dean

By Lance Dwyer

After serving as acting dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for nearly two years, Atom Yee will spend his first year as the permanent dean of the school on sabbatical, conducting research in the field of chemical biology at Dartmouth College.

In an e-mail to faculty and staff announcing the appointing of Yee as the new dean, university President Paul Locatelli, S.J., said that he would meet with Yee and Provost Denise Carmody to discuss the organization of the dean's office and eventually determine who the acting dean will be during Yee's absence.

A search committee consisting of Santa Clara administrators and professors considered nearly 90 applicants across the nation for the position of permanent dean.

In the end, the committee decided that Yee was the best possible candidate, and the fact that he would be on sabbatical was not an issue significant enough to prevent him from getting the position, Phil Kesten, the chair of both the physics department and the search committee, said.

"Everyone would prefer that we had a dean that was going to be here next year, but the fact of the matter is that the college is in good shape," Kesten said. "If there were some major issues going on right now then maybe we might be a little more concerned. But there aren't any."

Yee said he originally did not want to be considered for the permanent position because he was afraid that he would have to forego his sabbatical. However, after a national search in January of last year resulted with none of the applicants being offered the position, Locatelli asked Yee to apply for the position during the second application process which began in September, according to Yee.

Yee became more comfortable with the notion of being the permanent dean as he began to enjoy working with the staff around him and became more interested in making progress on important issues concerning the College of Arts and Sciences. He said that Locatelli also mentioned that he would be allowed to go on sabbatical should he get the position.

As the search committee restarted the application process, they began researching various applicants from around the country, eventually attaining a list of 30 people. Out of that pool, six were given phone interviews, at which point the committee decided to fly three of them out for on-campus interviews in early January.

Kesten said the search committee made extensive efforts to find the best possible candidate.

"Atom didn't simply want to get the job. He wanted to know that if he was awarded the position, that he was the best applicant out of a good pool. And he really was," Kesten said.

After each applicant went through a series of interviews with administrators, faculty and staff, in addition to formally presenting their vision for the College of Arts and Sciences, Yee was offered the position in late January.

"I really think this is a good match and a good opportunity for Atom to exercise his leadership skills on a higher level," Steven Fedder, a professor in the chemistry department and colleague of Yee's for nearly 20 years, said. "He has a great understanding of how all the different disciplines make up the college and can divorce from his role as a scientist."

After observing Yee's leadership as chair of the chemistry department and then as acting dean, Fedder said that Yee has shown a tremendous ability to "think outside the box," as he constantly worked to evaluate every facet of the chemistry curriculum and instilled new innovative teaching techniques.

Part of Yee's vision for the College of Arts and Sciences is to instill similar dynamic approaches to all of the 18 departments. Yee had three specific planks in his platform for applying for dean. He emphasized enhancing the academic quality of Santa Clara, promoting the academic achievement and success of the students, as well as promoting and supporting faculty scholarship.

Fedder said that certain ways which he has already seen Yee executing his vision are by focusing on program review.

"One way to begin improving a university is to really assess that it's doing well and where it needs improvement on a department by department basis," Fedder said.

Yee has provided resources and a structure for each department chair to enable them to take a critical look at their respective departments, according to Fedder.

Fedder said Yee must now place the foundation for next year.

û Contact Lance Dwyer at (408) 554-4546 or ldwyer@scu.edu.