From Rocky College to a dean of the college

Expanding her sphere of influence beyond Rockefeller College's freshmen and sophomores, Rockefeller College Director of Studies Carol Porter will be working with underclassmen from all residential colleges beginning next year as the new associate dean of the college.

Porter, who will assume her new post July 1, will succeed Harold McCulloch. Porter said her responsibilities mostly will involve organizing freshman orientation programs, recruiting residential college faculty advisers, collaborating with residential colleges and working to improve the academic advising system for underclassmen.

Though Porter said it was a difficult decision to leave Rockefeller, she said she was attracted to the new job because it "was an opportunity for me to do things that are broader-based than what I've been doing at Rocky."

She said she sees her new position as an exciting one, especially in the face of impending changes that will be made to the University with the trustees' plan to increase the size of the student body by 500. "The University is changing, especially with Wythes. There will be new challenges that we can't define yet, and that will be an exciting time," she said.

Porter added that she looks forward to helping define the future of the University. "I would hope I will be a part of the planning for the sixth residential college, with its academic planning," she said. "I also want to continue Dean McCulloch's work of making the academic advising program as good as it could be."

Student concerns

Rockefeller RA Pauly Rodney '00 said Porter's familiarity with student concerns makes her a good fit for the post. "It's no secret that many freshmen are not satisfied with the freshman advising program," he said. "Carol has picked up the slack for myself during my freshman year and for several 'zees this year because we didn't feel comfortable going to our freshman-year advisers."

Porter said one of her main projects during the past few years has been the development of the Residential College Diversity Program. She said she believes it is important for the University to continue to build diversity awareness among the student body. "I hope I'll still be involved in trying to raise the profile of diversity programming in colleges to make the programming all-college events rather than single-college events," she said.

Janelle Wright '00, also a Rockefeller RA, remembered Porter's influential work in reforming the Nude Olympics. "She was definitely at the forefront of trying to ensure that students were taking as many precautions as possible to be safe as well as to protect the well being of others," she said.

Porter said she takes pride in having worked to improve the status of students in Rockefeller and beyond during her tenure at the college. "I really see the colleges in Princeton as a microcosm of our culture," she said. "I see it as an opportunity to live ideally as we'd like to — to work, live and get along with one another. That's exciting to be connected with all of the residents of the colleges."