Acorn

Issue date: 3/28/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Shaina Mirsky Dean of Humanities at SUNY Purchase Jonathon Levin met with trustees last Tuesday in Mead Hall, after speaking to faculty and students on March 20.

The search continues. Before spring break, dean candidates Steve Roberson and Jon Chenette were taken out of consideration for the position of Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Two more candidates, Temple University Russian Professor Ben Rifkin and Dean of Humanities at Purchase College Jonathon Levin, were introduced to campus last week as additional options for the president and provost to consider. Current Dean of the College Paolo Cucchi will step down at the end of the semester.

Two situations could occur that would remove a candidate from consideration: either the search committee determines they did not do well enough in their interviews or they withdraw their name from consideration, Leavell said. Due to confidentiality reasons, Leavell could not specify the details surrounding Chenette and Roberson's removal from consideration. "One of the things that we promise candidates for the position is that we will treat issues like confidentially," Leavell said in an email.

On Tuesday March 18, Rifkin spoke to a crowd of faculty in University Center room 107. Besides The Acorn's reporters, no students were present. Rifkin has a strong history of academics. He earned his undergraduate degree in Russian and East European Studies at Yale University, traveled abroad to Moscow as an interpreter for NBC news, attended University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and earned his second master's degree and Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literature. He then joined the faculty of the Slavic Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, directed the Russian language program for 15 years and served as chair of the department and director of the Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia. In 2005, he joined Temple University in the summer of 2005 and served as Vice Dean for Undergraduate Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts through 2007 before returning to the faculty as a Professor of Russian.

During his speech on March 18, Rifkin spoke largely about his collegiate background and his experience at Yale University, especially about a particularly frustrating calculus class in which his frequent questioning angered his professor. "These veins would pop out of his forehead and I thought he'd have stroke and die," Rifkin said, drawing one of many laughs from the crowd. This experience, however, was integral in his understanding of undergraduate education. "It taught me a lot about teaching and higher education," he said.

Continued...

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