The unexpected departure of the head of the Taubman Center for Public Policy and American Institutions has left administrators scrambling to fill his shoes from within the University.
Professor of Political Science Darrell West announced earlier this month that he will leave Brown after 26 years for a position at the Brookings Institution, a liberal public policy think tank in Washington.
West, who has directed the Taubman Center for the past eight years, will become Brookings' vice president and director for governance studies. Though West wasn't actively seeking a job, Brookings approached him about the position, he said. He will oversee the program and encourage its 30 scholars to come up with ideas that will "improve the American government and governmental democracy," he said.
Since his announcement, administrators have decided to replace him with someone from Brown.
"We will need to have someone from the inside step in on July 1 when Darrell leaves," said Dean of the Faculty Rajiv Vohra P'07.
Vohra said that because West will be leaving so soon, a "full-blown external search" for a replacement for the Taubman Center's director is impossible.
The internal search for a replacement will require consulting other faculty involved with the Taubman Center for their recommendations, Vohra said. Vohra, who will direct the search, said he hasn't yet begun talking to faculty about West's replacement.
Vohra said he doesn't know if West's replacement will assume the position of director temporarily or permanently.
"We have not decided on a long-term strategy other than clearly understanding that the Taubman Center is an important unit on campus," Vohra said.
West is only the second director of the center, which was created in 1984. He was appointed director after the center's first director retired, said Brett Clifton PhD'02, assistant director of the Taubman Center and lecturer in public policy.
West said the Taubman Center raised $10 million for its endowment during his eight years as director, helping to fund new faculty chairs, internship programs and general program support. During his directorship, the center also added more than two dozen courses to the curriculum and increased the number of faculty involved in public policy.
"The center director wears many different hats," Clifton said. He said West teaches and advises students and sometimes introduces speakers that come to campus, in addition to his other responsibilities.
Clifton said a replacement for West will need to be "someone who is an excellent researcher, someone who has a vision for the center and someone with excellent leadership."
West's successor will need to be able to work with a variety of people, Clifton said, including undergraduates, grad students and faculty from such wide-ranging departments as public policy, education, political science and economics.
"Brown is going to have some pretty big shoes to fill," said Ravi Perry GS. Perry and Jeremy Johnson GS, two third-year Ph.D. candidates in political science whose dissertations West is involved in supervising, said they will be sad to see West go but that his departure will not adversely affect their work. West has agreed to continue to serve on their dissertation committees by keeping in touch with them through e-mail.
Though those who have worked with West said they are sad to see him go, they added taking up the Brookings job is a good move.
West will be able to have a "larger impact on American politics," Perry said.
West said the new administration that will soon arrive in Washington factored into his decision. "It was just an opportunity to participate in the national political dialogue at a major turning point," he said.
Perry called Brookings an "internationally renowned think tank" and said that its decision to hire West "says a lot about the quality of work that he has produced at Brown."
"Brown should be excited about it, to have such a high, prominent figure go to a more high-profile position," he said.
