George Vassilev stepped into the position of assistant dean and director of pre-professional advising Sept. 21. He is currently responsible for advising students and alums applying to medical and law school.
Vassilev will also be involved in creating a program for prospective business school applicants. Brown does not currently have an advising program for students or alums seeking a master's in business administration. But this new program will not begin until the 2011-12 academic year at the earliest, Vassilev said.
In his new post, Vassilev has taken on responsibilities previously held by Andrew Simmons, now director of the Career Development Center. Simmons will continue to collaborate with Vassilev to develop programming for Brown's pre-medical advising.
Vassilev will also be working with other pre-law advisers to "build our support for students interested in law school," Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron wrote in a Sept. 7 e-mail to students.
The demand for pre-professional advising has been increasing every year, said Stephen Lassonde, deputy dean of the College.
"We don't want all of the responsibility on one person," Lassonde said, pointing out that the Office of the Dean of the College sends out 115 to 200 committee reference letters for pre-medical students each year. "It's best to have four of us who share the responsibility. The deans, here, do everything."
"Clearly, we have a lot of need for top-notch advising," Bergeron said.
Before coming to Brown, Vassilev served as health professions program coordinator at the University of Chicago, where he organized and executed programs and information sessions for students interested in careers in health care. Vassilev arrived at Chicago only a month after its Chicago Careers in Health Professions program was created, and he played a large role in the development of their program, he said.
"We were inventing the wheel, basically," he said.
While the advising team at Brown was interested in his previous experience in pre-professional advising, Vassilev said, they do not want to transplant the same programs he helped develop at Chicago.
Vassilev was also president of Chicago's International House, a residence hall for undergraduate and graduate students there.
"He lived in residence with students, which made him very appealing to us," Lassonde said. Vassilev, who speaks four languages, was born in Bulgaria and lived there until the age of 21.
Vassilev was chosen for the position over the summer by a committee consisting of faculty members and students.
"He did a great interview, and we were excited to offer him the job," Bergeron said.
The role of an adviser is ultimately to help students, Vassilev said.
"I'm really thrilled to be here," he said.
