Admission dean search begins

The search to replace the "YES!" man has begun.

The University will announce today that it has formed a 14-member committee to find a new admission dean to replace Fred Hargadon.

Hargadon, one of the country's most esteemed admission deans, said in August he would retire in June 2003 after serving here since 1988.

"Hargadon has been a towering figure in the field of college and university admissions with a reputation for insisting on the highest possible standards," President Tilghman said in August.

But he was surrounded by controversy this summer when it was reported that his associate dean, Stephen LeMenager, was the first of several admission staff to breach online records of Yale University applicants.

LeMenager, who was promoted to associate dean in September 2001, has since left admissions for the communications office.

The new dean of admission will face the difficult task of choosing a balanced freshman class of 1,160 out of 14,500 applicants and accommodating the 500-student increase approved in 2000.

The new dean will also have to confront concerns about early decision programs, standardized testing and athletics — all of which have recently been contentious issues in admission policies.

The search committee includes six professors, three students and five administrators, including the chair, Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel.

They will begin meeting and soliciting applications and nominations in early November and expect to begin reviewing candidates in January.

After narrowing the field, they will submit two or three names to Tilghman. Five trustees will interview these finalists.

The board of trustees must confirm Tilghman's final choice.

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The professors on the committee include Spanish history professor Jeremy Adelman, music professor Scott Burnham, Wilson School professor Christopher Eisgruber '83, physics professor Peter Myers, English professor Valerie Smith and electrical engineering professor and interim engineering school dean James Sturm '79.

The student members are former College Democrats president and 'Prince' columnist Adam Frankel '03 of New York, USG executive secretary Jacqueline Perlman '05 of Florida and Butler College MAA Lauren Phillips '04 of South Carolina.

In addition to Malkiel, the administrators include Janet Dickerson, vice president for campus life; Ann Halliday GS '78, associate secretary and special assistant to the president; Robert Durkee '69, vice president for public affairs; and Katherine Rohrer GS '80, vice provost for academic programs.