University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences, or CAS, has created a position for a new Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives (ADSI). The new job will be filled by Carol Stabile who is a professor of women and gender studies and the interim division dean of social sciences. Stabile was appointed to the position by CAS Dean Andrew Marcus and will take on the new position beginning on July 1.
News of the Stabile’s appointment was first reported by UO Matters, a blog run by UO Faculty Senate VP Bill Harbaugh, but some of the facts were inaccurate, such as the name of her new position.
Stabile was appointed without an open search and was the only candidate considered for the position, which Marcus says is within his power as the dean. The appointment was authorized by the provost, according to Marcus.
Before making the appointment, Marcus gathered input from members of the CAS dean’s office and the provost’s office.
Marcus says that he wanted Stabile for the job and did not go through an open search because he knew it would result in him choosing her, and would require people to put in more work than just appointing her.
Talks of creating the position began back in February of this year in the CAS dean’s office. Around that same time, Marcus reached out to Stabile about if she was interested in the position. As of May 30, there has not been a formal notification to faculty.
This was because Stabile had asked Marcus to wait to notify anybody until she had a chance to tell her department at the University of Maryland where she has been on leave from this year.
The ADSI will be part of the dean’s leadership team and will be tasked with developing, planning and implementing new strategic initiatives for the CAS. Stabile will not have permanent oversight of staff or budgets decisions.
“She will; however, be in a sense our imagineer… the engineer who can help us imagine what we might become and then actually put time into those initiatives,” said Marcus.
After hearing about the planned appointment, a group of faculty members sent a letter to Marcus.
According to Marcus, Stabile was the right candidate for this job because she has been a leader at the university in many ways and she has an extraordinary vision in seeing new directions.
“This was a position that I created because I felt like we had a remarkable opportunity of the right person and a need coming together at just the right time,” said Marcus.
Prior to being appointed to the position, Stabile has held other positions at the university including the head of the Center for the Study of Women in Society and the head of Women and Gender Studies department.
“This is a position that is going to reap long-term benefits for the college and the university,” said Marcus.