BY ALEX THOMAS
Melanie Herzog is set to become the new dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, effective Aug. 1, according to Dean Pribbenow, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Edgewood College.
Herzog has been here since the fall of 1995, marking nearly 23 years at Edgewood, and has been very connected to campus. She has chaired the Art Department, women and gender studies program, Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, and Faculty Affairs Committee – along with many more programs.
“I’ve seen this institution really grow,” said Herzog. “I came into a growth period where a lot of tenure positions were being introduced. I’m on my third college president, and I went through the restructuring that resulted in the different schools being created. With all of that, and having taught here for a long time, I have this curiosity for trying out a new role – at an institution that I’m already invested [in].”
The process started last year with the announcement that John Fields, the current dean of arts and sciences, will be going back to teaching. The arts and sciences faculty agreed that part of Fields’ effectiveness as dean was the fact that he had tenure.
“This meant that he was more secure than someone who is working at will,” said Herzog. “We all agreed that if there was interest and a qualified candidate, that we would want our next dean to come from within the School of Arts and Sciences.”
Last spring, there was a straw poll of people who might be interested in the position – a poll that Herzog missed due to her time on sabbatical. Again, a similar poll was conducted later in the fall, which morphed into a nomination process. Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty were asked to vote for up to three people that they thought would be the best fit for the position.
Those nominated talked with Fields first, then Pribbenow.
Herzog said she has no bias on behalf of the art department.“If there is an advantage for the arts, it’s that I’m aware of the needs of the arts departments — art, music, theatre – in terms of technical needs, acoustic needs for music, resource needs. Conversations that a dean from other disciplines wouldn’t have been a part of–those conversations with me could start in the middle, because no one needs to convince me that music has acoustic needs, for example.”
Herzog noticed these needs because she has been the chair of the art department during the move into the Stream over the past couple of years.
“I think that knowledge benefits the sciences as they have technical needs as well,” Herzog said.
Well before this nomination was decided, Herzog went on a sabbatical with two projects in mind. Half of the time she spent in Chile, where she learned about community engagement and socially relevant art, visual culture in the form of street art, and art that was made by those who were incarcerated.
She also spent time with contemporary art and artists affected by the shift in government when Chile returned to a democracy in the late 80s – a culture that is still changing and adapting.
The other half was spent finishing articles for publications. One, in particular, was a study on how artists used specific materials and how those materials created meaning. An example was working with an artist, Flo Wong, who is a United States-born, first-generation Chinese-American artist that works with rice sacks. Her parents came during the Chinese Exclusion Acts and lived undocumented while surviving primarily on rice as their form of food.
“Sabbaticals are so restorative,” she said. “They give a chance to read and explore your fields, and then bring that back to teaching. It’s reenergizing.”
This semester, Herzog is teaching two classes and shadowing Fields.
Herzog said she feels a sense of responsibility as she takes on her new title and realizes that the more that she is prepared, the better she will be able to provide for the arts and sciences.
Herzog said collaboration is key. She believes that in a small college, it is much easier to work together to better suit the students in their majors.
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