Vice President and Dean of the Division of Cooperative Education Richard D. Porter has announced that he will step down from his position at the end of the school year.

Porter will return to Northeastern in the fall as a member of the Mathematics Department and special assistant to the dean of Arts and Sciences. He will also assume the role of senior researcher for the Center for the Study of Practice Oriented Education.

In his role as special assistant to the dean of the College of Arts and Science, Porter will continue to focus on integrating classroom studies with co-op experiences.

“It is under his [Porter] leadership that co-op coordinators have moved into offices in the colleges and have also been integrated organizationally into the administrative structure of the colleges,” Northeastern President Richard M. Freeland said in an e-mail to university officials. “This step has resulted in closer communication between the co-op and academic faculty members, enabling them to better coordinate efforts to help students find the most educationally beneficial co-ops.”

President Freeland said a national search for Porter’s successor will begin immediately.

For a full story and interview with Richard Porter, see next week’s Northeastern News.

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