By Alexandra Malloy, news editor
The College of Arts, Media and Design is beginning the search for a new dean after the college’s founding dean, Xavier Costa, left the university in Spring 2014 for unknown reasons after four years as dean in the position. Currently Bruce Ronkin, a professor of music at CAMD, is the acting interim dean.
The university has hired Isaacson Miller search firm to aid in the process of “recruiting exceptional leaders for mission-driven organizations,” as stated on the firm’s website. The process started this week with a group of CAMD undergraduate and graduate students meeting with the firm to discuss characteristics the new dean should embody, and how he or she will fit into and grow with the CAMD community.
“Everybody kind of expressed similar concerns, especially that CAMD is kind of the forgotten step-child of the university,” Jameson Johnson, a freshman communication major, said. “People on the outside looking in don’t actually know what to do with us.”
The theme that ran through the session was mainly centered around the belief that the college is underfunded, under-appreciated and has some issues internally, as indicated by the presence of a dean search, said Johnson.
“A lot of people expressed that they want more classes to be available and more upper-level classes to be available during the summer,” Johnson said. “We just need to have a better reputation in general, we need more recognition from the other colleges.”
Another repeated topic that was brought up in the meeting was the lack of community within the College, as well as the need for increased communication between individual departments and other key university decision-makers.
Cory Lamz, a combined Juris Doctor and Music Industry Leadership graduate student at Northeastern, was also in attendance to share his opinions.
“In particular, I believe that the next dean of CAMD should have a passion for innovation, with a willingness to support students’ own entrepreneurial efforts through funding or providing resources and an understanding of how to lobby the greater university on the behalf of students,” Lamz said in an email to The News. “That is not to say that the previous dean did not do this, but I think that, as CAMD continues to innovate and its students continue to push the boundaries of creativity, it’s important that the new dean not only supports these efforts, but shares the same vision for creative innovation.”
Photo courtesy David Fox, Massachusetts office of Travel and Tourism
