Monday, May 17, 2004
Seabury Update
This morning we had a much needed and welcomed meeting with the chair of Seabury's Board of Trustees Dr. Salme Harju Steinberg. She gave us a brief overview of the situation for the trustee's position and then responded to questions posed by students. I got a lot of what I wanted to know answered or at least fleshed out more concerning the Dean's new appointment and what the process for selecting a new dean will be. We will have an interim Dean, beginning next academic year, for a one year period who is to be "a person of stature in the church". During that year, a national search will take place for a new, permanent Dean. The search efforts will likely be aided by a professional search organization and the search committee will consist of members of all concerned bodies: students, faculty and staff, alumnae, and trustees/executive board. I will be putting my name forward for consideration to be a member of that committee. Students, including myself, expressed frustration at the seeming lack of communication and ideas were put forth on how that could be improved. We hope to have monthly updates on the myriad search processes so that we can be kept informed. The financial issue was addressed briefly. We were told that Seabury is not in the best financial shape, thus the capital campaign drive which is now in the quiet phase. Dr. Steinberg expressed no concern over the changing of the guard of Dean's during this campaign and assured everyone it would continue as planned. Some mention was made about the various faculty departures. Even given that the majority of them are reasonable and expected, it still is a large number of departures. Depending on who you count as faculty the numbers range from 38 - 50%. Some persons apparently do not count as official faculty due to the nature of their positions and appointments, but I count as faculty those who have been directly responsible for educating us. A remark was made that in the Fall we will have 4 Full Professors on our staff and that is more than ever before in the recent history of the seminary. I thought that, while technically true, was an easy way to put a positive spin on the issue. Of those 4, 1 will be retiring after the Fall term and 1 is actively looking for another job, leaving us with 2. Others with whom I have been in conversation have noted that they see the opportunity for a new Dean as a good thing for a positive start (nothing against Jim Lemler intended). So, all in all, it seems as if what we have, at least on the surface, are a host of planned and expected changes all taking place at the same time, which is unfortunate, but unavoidable. It will be an interesting time though and I hope it will be a good period of transition.
-R
This morning we had a much needed and welcomed meeting with the chair of Seabury's Board of Trustees Dr. Salme Harju Steinberg. She gave us a brief overview of the situation for the trustee's position and then responded to questions posed by students. I got a lot of what I wanted to know answered or at least fleshed out more concerning the Dean's new appointment and what the process for selecting a new dean will be. We will have an interim Dean, beginning next academic year, for a one year period who is to be "a person of stature in the church". During that year, a national search will take place for a new, permanent Dean. The search efforts will likely be aided by a professional search organization and the search committee will consist of members of all concerned bodies: students, faculty and staff, alumnae, and trustees/executive board. I will be putting my name forward for consideration to be a member of that committee. Students, including myself, expressed frustration at the seeming lack of communication and ideas were put forth on how that could be improved. We hope to have monthly updates on the myriad search processes so that we can be kept informed. The financial issue was addressed briefly. We were told that Seabury is not in the best financial shape, thus the capital campaign drive which is now in the quiet phase. Dr. Steinberg expressed no concern over the changing of the guard of Dean's during this campaign and assured everyone it would continue as planned. Some mention was made about the various faculty departures. Even given that the majority of them are reasonable and expected, it still is a large number of departures. Depending on who you count as faculty the numbers range from 38 - 50%. Some persons apparently do not count as official faculty due to the nature of their positions and appointments, but I count as faculty those who have been directly responsible for educating us. A remark was made that in the Fall we will have 4 Full Professors on our staff and that is more than ever before in the recent history of the seminary. I thought that, while technically true, was an easy way to put a positive spin on the issue. Of those 4, 1 will be retiring after the Fall term and 1 is actively looking for another job, leaving us with 2. Others with whom I have been in conversation have noted that they see the opportunity for a new Dean as a good thing for a positive start (nothing against Jim Lemler intended). So, all in all, it seems as if what we have, at least on the surface, are a host of planned and expected changes all taking place at the same time, which is unfortunate, but unavoidable. It will be an interesting time though and I hope it will be a good period of transition.
-R
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