Associate Dean of the College Peter Hocking, director of the Swearer Center for Public Service, will leave his current position at Brown this summer to focus more on his passions for painting and teaching.
He notified the University of his resignation several weeks ago, and a search committee is being formed to look for his replacement.
Hocking, a 1988 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, has worked at the Swearer Center for 17 years. He said his decision came out of reflecting on the advice he was giving last semester to students interested in working for nonprofit organizations.
"I increasingly found myself encouraging students to follow their dreams in their life decisions, and I realized that I needed to do the same," Hocking said.
Hocking wants to spend more time in the classroom - he is currently an instructor at RISD and at Goddard College in Vermont, from which he received a Master's in Fine Arts in 2003 - and work on his artwork. "I feel like I've deferred that part of my career and that part of my life," he said.
"Working at the Center's been a wonderful opportunity and challenge, and I'm extraordinarily fortunate to have had the opportunity to start with the Center as it was a very young program and to have been present as it's grown," Hocking said. "It's been an absolute pleasure to be part of this community for as long as I have," he added.
Administrators and colleagues had only praise for Hocking as he prepares to leave.
"He's been a wonderful director of the Swearer Center and I'm sorry to see him go," said Paul Armstrong, dean of the college. "He built the Swearer Center into a real, nationally important model for how service in the community can be intricately part of a student's undergraduate education. ... The number of students who work (through the Center) every year is really a testament to his ability."
"I respect his decision to open a new chapter in his life," Armstrong added.
"I have adored working with Peter Hocking. So I'm sad to see him go, but also very excited not only about the possibility of him having new adventures but also the opportunities this creates for new ideas and new leadership for the Swearer Center," said Kath Connolly, senior associate director of the center.
The search process for a new director has begun, Armstrong said. He said he hopes to fill the position quickly, possibly before Hocking leaves.
In the transition period, Connolly said, "we're going to continue to do the good work we do - I have no concerns about us continuing to do our mission."
An advertisement has been placed in the next issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education and the position has been announced to various relevant e-mail listservs, Armstrong said.
A search committee is currently being formed, and will include faculty, students, a representative of the Office of the Dean of the College and members of the community, according to Armstrong. He said the committee will be a small one, perhaps six or seven people, and will be chaired by Margaret Klawunn, interim dean for campus life.
"The search committee isn't constituted yet," Klawunn said, but she said she is excited to begin, as "the Swearer Center is a very important resource at Brown."
"The staff here (at the Swearer Center) will be engaged in that process" of selecting a new director, Connolly said.
"We want the best person in the country to do this job, and it's an excellent center. It should be a very attractive position," Armstrong said.
