One of the first lessons learned when part of any administrative body is knowing to hire the "right person for the right job."
Clichéd though it is, this pearl of wisdom is necessary to ensure any organizational unit can be managed properly by the right person, especially a unit as complex as the University of Toledo College of Arts and Sciences. Perhaps he was not able to make an effective transition from being a chairman of the Department of Ethnic Studies at Minnesota State University to dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UT - maybe because of a difference in the academic cultures of the two instutions. But in any case, Dean of the CAS Yueh-Ting Lee was simply not the right person for the right job.
It can only be said with a measure of hope and skepticism, but Lee's temporary replacement of Dr. Nina McClelland seems to fit her assumed role quite well.
Many faculty members have expressed concern about her lack of experience as a professor, something she promptly admitted at Tuesday's Arts and Sciences Council meeting by saying that she is "at the bottom of the steepest learning curve of her life" as the CAS dean. But being a novice ultimately means she won't be carrying any administrative ideological baggage with her. An interim dean can have all of the experience possible, but it will be for the worst if that experience is of carving up a college or making it into a supermarket for degrees.
As long as McClelland interacts a lot with CAS faculty members and students - as she asked all present at the Tuesday council meeting to do - she cannot help but come to appreciate the CAS from the perspectives of these two groups, as well as administrators.
And if she does advocate for the CAS, she will undoubtedly be a force to reckon with - even in the face of a strident administration. As a woman in the male-dominated sciences in the 1950s and 1960s, especially considering the success she has garnered, McClelland must be a strong person.
Her years as a chemist and an entrepreneur may be troubling to some in the liberal arts, but it need not be. She has publicly stated her mutual interest in the sciences and the arts along with her commitment to serving faculty. Her engagement with the National Science Foundation in promoting health standards for food and water (performing a public good) is also notable, as it may be a shining example of the kind of interdisciplinary synergy that can be achieved in the CAS. With this type of synergy, we can begin to see the connections between the humanities - concerned with improving the human condition - and the hard sciences, how the two sustain and relate to one another.
None of us can take any of these positives as a given, though. All students and faculty members concerned with the future of the CAS must keep their eyes on college proceedings, most notably the unfolding Learning Alliance assessment, and work with each other - including McClelland. Only then can any goals or vision for the college be achieved or implemented.
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