Williams faculty, staff and students,
I’m delighted to inform you that Professor of Economics Dukes Love and Hales Professor of Psychology Marlene Sandstrom have agreed to serve second terms on my senior staff, as provost and dean of the college, respectively. Their new three-year terms will begin on July 1, 2019. Dukes’ and Marlene’s service continues Williams’ distinctive practice of recruiting college leaders from within our faculty for the key roles of provost, dean of the college and dean of the faculty.
As provost, Dukes is responsible for allocating college resources in ways that support our educational priorities. In conjunction with Vice President for Finance Fred Puddester he guides $240M per year in college spending and authorizes new capital projects, renewals, and annual capital spending. He and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Liz Creighton ’01 developed almost $750,000 per year in new financial aid reforms to better support our talented and diverse student body. And with Associate Provost Chris Winters ’95, Dukes helped increase the transparency of college decisions about staffing, building, sustainability, and financial aid by publishing an impressive series of reports and presentations on the provost’s website. His wide-ranging portfolio also includes our work in sustainability, information technology, libraries, institutional research and the arts. As part of his work Dukes has made key hires in several areas, including Liz Creighton as our first dean of admission and financial aid, Jonathan Miller as director of libraries, and Pam Franks as director of the Williams College Museum of Art.
As dean of the college, Marlene guides efforts to provide holistic support to Williams students in concert with Vice President for Campus Life Steve Klass and Vice President for Institutional Diversity and Equity Leticia Smith-Evans Haynes, as well as faculty, staff and student leaders. Marlene’s many contributions include overseeing the hiring of Chris Sewell ’05 and April Ruiz as new deans; recruiting former registrar Barb Casey as Williams’ first Winter Study Coordinator; overseeing the creation of the Violence Prevention Coordinator’s position, now held by Hannah Lipstein, who works with Director of Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Meg Bossong ’05 to expand the content and reach of our prevention programming; consolidating Williams’ academic resources offices into a collaborative suite in Paresky; working with the Honor Committee to emphasize educational approaches to the sanctioning process; and hiring a new registrar, Kath Kilventon, who works closely with the deans to support our academic advising efforts. You can learn more about Marlene’s work on the dean’s website.
It has been my good fortune as an incoming president to transition into a fantastic team of senior leaders at Williams. Dukes and Marlene exemplify the group’s dedication to Williams and our people. I’m thrilled that they’ll continue doing so in their roles for three more years.
Warm regards,
Maud