Roughly 60 members of DePauw faculty and staff attended a Q&A session with vice president of Academic Affairs candidate George Bent in Meharry Hall on Wednesday.
The session was meant to give faculty and staff a first-glimpse of their potential new boss.
"Both faculty and staff have a vested interested," Betsy Demmings, executive assistant to the president said. "This is a huge position on campus. Huge."
The vice president of Academic Affairs will work alongside President Casey and play a key role in making DePauw a top liberal arts school.
During Bent's 20 years at Washington and Lee University, another private liberal arts college, he taught in the Art History department, helped found an interdisciplinary program, worked on several committees and served three years as the associate dean of the college.
Bent was there when Washington and Lee began admitting women in 1985 and when the university started to offer academic minors. He also worked with students who were struggling with thoughts of suicide, and emphasized that he became close with many of his coworkers.
"I've held the hands of two of my colleagues as they've died," Bent said of his friendships with other faculty at Washington and Lee.
Bent attended Oberlin College where he majored in history. He received his master's and Ph.D. in art history from Stanford University before beginning his career at Washington and Lee.
After spending many years at liberal arts institutions, Bent emphasized the value of a liberal arts education.
schools] as punching bags," Bent said. "But liberal arts students are the ones who know how to problem solve because they've taken all kinds of classes."
While on campus, Bent saw a lot of similarities between DePauw and Washington and Lee. Both are small, private, four-year institutions. Washington and Lee has a spring term, a program that closely resembles our winter term. And greek life is prevalent on both campuses. Eighty percent of the student body at Washington and Lee is Greek, while 70 percent of the student body at DePauw is Greek.
Despite all the similarities, Bent said that he realizes DePauw and Washington and Lee are not the same. If hired, Bent said he will keep those differences in mind by listening to faculty and students, and being patient as he works to improve DePauw.
"I recognize that I am coming in from the outside," Bent said. "I want to know what's happening on the ground first. I don't want to move too fast."
Bent is the second of the four remaining VPAA candidates to visit campus. Last week, Joan Neff from the University of Richmond visited, and the remaining two candidates, whose names have not been announced, will visit next week. Similar Q&A sessions will be held during each of their visits. Q&A sessions have been scheduled for Monday and Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Meharry Hall.
"We intended [the sessions] to be faculty and staff," said Wayne Glausser, head of the search committee. "But we are open to students attending."