Pace faculty and students expressed various concerns at the community-wide open forum meetings last month and in the weeks that followed over the decision to hire a dean for the Pforzheimer Honors College.

According to Dr. Ross Robak, Chair of the Psychology Department, faculty members have questioned whether the resources going into hiring a dean could be used to improve the program that already exists, and whether it would have been better if the dean had been selected from among Pace faculty.

Freshman Alexandra Franciosa echoed Robak’s first point.

“I do not understand why they’re creating a dean for the Honors College when the university isn’t doing well financially,” Franciosa said. “The Honors College already has a full staff, and the university has had to cut classes for economic reasons, which affects the entire student body and the faculty, not just honors students. It makes me wonder who they think of and talk to when making these decisions, because it’s not the student body.”

Dr. Adelia Williams, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and chair of the search committee for the new dean, said that Pace faculty were not excluded from applying to the position.

Among the prevalent questions during the open meetings was how students and faculty would be assigned once there is an Honors Dean—whether they will remain part of their respective, academic college, or be part of both their college and Honors.

Williams said students will remain in their college, and that there won’t be a change to that administrative part. Faculty will likewise remain in their colleges.

What is changing, according to Williams, is that the process of selecting faculty to teach Honors classes will be more cooperative, since it will be between two deans—the Honors Dean and the college’s dean.

“We do not yet know how this will exactly work,” said Williams in regard to the details of the new arrangement.

She added that the cooperation between colleges and Honors would involve more planning and will be less provisional than it has been so far.

Williams also emphasized that having a dean would ensure the Honors College has a voice, despite the fact that some faculty members have questioned what weight this voice would carry if the Honors Dean has no direct faculty.

Dr. Melissa Cardon, Director of the Honors Business Program at Pleasantville, said she has mixed feelings about the new position.

“It is a good move because the Honors College needs resources, and the best way to get them is having an advocate at high-level conversations,” Cardon said.

Williams mirrored this last point when she said the Honors College’s issues and concerns would be better represented, and that it would be closer to the provost than it is now.

A potential negative side is, according to Cardon, adding another layer of management, a layer that also could be a problem for interaction between administration and students.

“How can you be a dean if you do not know or understand students?” said Cardon, adding that a dean should know what students need, what students want, and how to give it to them.

According to Cardon, getting faculty to teach will be one of the challenges for a new dean.

“Pace needs to be able to offer an Honors program for all its [colleges],” she said.

For Robak, the bottom line is how important the Honors College is for the university. He also said it should be more important than it is now, and added that the Honors College is crucial for the intellectual life of the university.

“Let’s be honest, a dean is a real step toward elevating [the Honors College],” Robak said. “The real question is, what’s the next step? Is hiring a dean the beginning or the end of the process?”

According to Williams, the announcement of the Honors College Dean may be made any day now.