The University is currently searching for a new assistant dean for chemical dependency and junior and senior class following Kathleen McSharry’s departure from the position in August.
The dean is responsible for issues of chemical dependency as they relate to students, faculty members and staff members and will manage academic and co-curricular programs for the junior and senior classes.
The committee is looking for a candidate with a background in advising at the undergraduate level as well as personal or professional experience working with the recovery community, said Carol Cohen, senior associate dean of the College for class advising and health and personal issues, who is heading the search. In addition to providing academic advising, the dean is responsible for facilitating chemical dependency recovery groups and developing campus policies regarding alcohol and other drugs.
“It is important that we have somebody who can understand substance addiction and recovery and how it interacts with the life of a college student,” Cohen said. “The position is fully integrated into the undergraduate academic dean structure.”
McSharry and her predecessor worked with student and community groups on campus including the Early Sobriety Group, which is open to any Brown student in recovery, and the Lunch Bunch, a monthly gathering of Brown students, faculty members and staff members who are in recovery or who have been affected by chemical dependency.
“This is a way to support and normalize the fact that addiction is a common issue in universities and for some people it’s a reentry into social life,” said University Chaplain Janet Cooper Nelson, who has worked closely with the dean for chemical dependency in previous years.
Until the position is filled, the responsibilities have been divided among other administrators, Cohen said.
Cohen has stepped in to complete much of the advisory work while the search is taking place, and Catherine Axe, director of Student and Employee Accessibility Services, is meeting individually with students struggling with substance use and leading recovery groups.
It is unlikely that the new dean will be making changes to policies already in place, including the interim alcohol policy upheld in September that prohibits alcohol in residential spaces, said Dean of the College Maud Mandel.
“The policy itself has been recently adjusted so I don’t see the dean in any initial stages making changes to policy,” Mandel said. “We have a robust program in place. It is less that we seek to initiate several new programs but more important to have steady dependable support.”
Members of the search committee include Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Sherri Nelson, Associate Professor of English and American Studies Daniel Kim and Thomas Chavez ’16, among others.
