Sheila Bonde has worked at Brown for 21 years, but her new position as dean of the Graduate School is giving her a whole new perspective on the University.
Bonde, who worked at Brown as a professor and head of the Department of History of Art and Architecture, is looking to achieve new goals within Brown's graduate community.
"There are a couple of things I'm interested in doing - one is building a community, giving graduate students a greater sense of community outside their departments," she said.
To prevent graduate students from feeling confined to their own departments, Bonde is advocating inter-departmental discussion. One of the new programs the Graduate School will use to accomplish this is a dinner-seminar series called "The Academy in Context." The first lecture in October will concern ethics in graduate studies - an issue that concerns numerous departments.
"I'm hoping to spark some conversations across disciplines that unite graduate students," Bonde said.
Bonde is also working to build the community by welcoming Hurricane Katrina victims. When graduate transfer students were first arriving, she called Robin McGill GS, the president of the Graduate Council of Students, to bring other Brown graduate students to meet them. Bonde also spoke at an orientation for the victims.
"(Bonde) has a very personal perspective that's based on personal connections and getting to see the faces of the people," McGill said.
This manner has helped Bonde communicate effectively in many forums throughout her years at Brown. She has participated in a variety of committees, including the Academic Priorities Committee, where she discussed a number of issues concerning education at Brown. Rajiv Vohra, dean of the faculty, said he has seen that Bonde can get her message across by using communication and understanding.
"The way in which she works is largely collaborative and through discussions, not by pounding her fist on the table," Vohra said.
Bonde applied for her current position after Provost Robert Zimmer suggested it as something in which she might be interested. While administration was not something that had been on her radar, she found the "unsuspecting opportunity" to apply for dean of the Graduate School to be a welcome one. While she still had a passion for teaching, the new position was a chance to see the University in a different light, Bonde said.
"I almost feel as if I put a periscope up and I'm getting a broader view of the University," she said. "And even if I go back - which I probably will, to full-time teaching - that broader context will be useful."
"(Bonde) has a long-standing commitment to education as a whole and to graduate education in particular," Zimmer said.
Last year, Bonde received the honor of being named a Royce Family Professor, an award for excellence in teaching. In 2002, she won the Harriet W. Sheridan Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Learning. She will continue to teach classes in the Department of History of Art and Architecture and informally advise students in that department as well.
She has also worked on archaeological studies in France. Last year, she received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to continue her research in Saint Jean des Vignes in Soisson, France.
For now, however, Bonde is happy to work in her new position here at the University.
"I have a new office and a new perspective, and it's time to get a new perspective on the University," she said.
