Nugent named McGraw dean

The first day of October was a day of new beginnings for Georgia Nugent '73, who spent her first day on the job as the first dean of the Harold McGraw Jr. Center for Teaching and Learning.

Nugent, formerly the associate provost of the University, said, "Princeton is unique in maintaining a difficult but immensely valuable balance between being a research institution and a teaching institution."

"The Trustees' decision to name a dean of teaching and learning reconfirms our commitment to that balance," she added.

The new deanship was the brainchild of Provost Amy Gutmann, who said Nugent was appointed to give the McGraw Center the vitality that its teaching and learning role warrants.

"By creating the deanship and appointing [Nugent] to it, we highlight the intellectual character of the center's mission of working with faculty and students to foster the most effective — and in some cases also innovative — methods of teaching and learning," Gutmann said.

Nugent's appointment, according to Gutmann, will bring an established reputation to the new position.

"[Nugent] is superbly suited to lead the center," Gutmann said. "She is an award-winning teacher and an energetic and effective administrator. She has the confidence of our faculty and admiration of our students alike."

The mission of the McGraw Center is, according to Nugent, "Nothing less than to assist all who teach and learn in this community to realize their fullest academic potential."

Nugent's plans to achieve the mission of the center are well underway.

"I'm beginning to work closely with the McGraw staff to plan programs and events at McGraw," she said. "A big challenge for the immediate future will be to both manage the current activities of the center well, so that faculty and students can rely on valuable services from McGraw, and also to find time for reflection and setting larger goals for the future."

In her new role, Nugent said she will utilize her background in teaching and administration to bring passion to the center.

"In addition to a love of the classroom, I think that my previous experience as an administrator at Princeton — first as assistant to the president and then as associate provost — enabled me to glean different perspectives on the University," Nugent said.

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According to Gutmann, Nugent will work with undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members to make the University a leader in practicing the most effective educational methods.

"[Nugent is] a master teacher in the traditional sense of that term: a mentor and a role model in her teaching," Gutmann said. "Her overarching duty is to ensure that our students and faculty are well served by the best pedagogical means available."

According to Gutmann, Kathy Rohrer, former associate dean of the faculty, will take up many of Nugent's previous duties in the provost's office.