This year, the Dean of Students Office is implementing a class dean system to better serve the needs of each class as it progresses towards graduation.
Every class will begin their time at RPI with the dean of the Office of the First Year Experience serving as the class dean. After the freshman year, each class will be assigned a permanent class dean. This class dean will be chosen by the vice president for Student Life and can be a member of the staff, faculty, or administration with no limitation on the candidate pool. The classes of 2006 and 2005 will not have class deans, while Mark Smith, the dean of students, is the class dean for the class of 2007. Each future class dean will report to the dean of students.
The overall class dean system is composed of an interdisciplinary team with representatives from each of the schools, cabinet level offices, the class dean, and the class president. This team will respond to many issues that affect each class such as co-ops, study abroad, scholarships for upperclassmen, professional development, research, and social activities. This system is designed to be much more responsive to class priorities and help students find the opportunities that are available throughout college.
Under this system, class deans will be responsible for all activities and issues that are specific to their class. Examples of things that would fall under the class dean include concerns from the early warning system and support. Things that affect more than one class will still be the responsibility of the dean of students, such as discipline. Smith hopes that this will add more flexibility to the system because not all information would have to be filtered through the dean of students.
Smith states, “What we’d like to do is make an effort to get this information to all students.” Right now, it is difficult for students to find out about the opportunities they have as there is no real mechanism to compile this information. Smith hopes that this new concept gives students a feeling of empowerment because they will have greater control over their options while at Rensselaer. “It’s up to the Institute to figure out how to provide the tools.” This system is an attempt to provide those tools to a more successful college experience.
