Skerrett starts as dean of Arts and Sciences

The new dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, Kathleen Skerrett, met with students and faculty Monday afternoon at a meet and greet.

Skerrett, who was appointed last March, was previously an associate dean and professor of religious studies at Grinnell College in Iowa. She said that her background in religious studies influenced her leadership approach.

"I care a great deal about ethics, and I think a lot in terms of formation of people's vocations," Skerrett said. "Reading religious and ethics literature gives me a vocabulary for approaching the challenges and goodness of human relationships. I hope that makes me a humane leader."

While she was dean at Grinnell, she co-taught a course on human rights with political science professor Wayne Moyer.

Moyer said Skerrett had brought her own perspectives to the class and had been a pleasure to teach with.

"She's a lawyer as well as a religious studies person, and I'm a political scientist, so we had very different perspectives, very different ways of coming to grips with these issues," he said. "I think it worked really well."

Skerrett also worked with Moyer last year on a faculty task force Skerrett led to put together a strategy to assess the college's accomplishments.

"I knew that if I could gather wise faculty leadership we could get things done in a way that was responsive to faculty needs," Skerrett said.

Skerrett wants to pursue the same strategy here, she said, helping faculty and students realize the Richmond Promise.

"I believe the Richmond Promise braids together the key themes in higher education today, and those are the themes I want to focus on," she said.

The search for a new dean began in June 2010, when an 18-member committee was set up representing faculty, trustees, staff and students. The committee was headed by Steve Allred, provost and vice president for academic affairs, and biology professor Malcolm Hill.

"It was really important to have everyone at the table who needs to be there," Allred said. "It's important because Arts and Sciences is the biggest school to which all students are first admitted."

To help find candidates, the committee petitioned 10 different consulting firms, eight of which responded. The top three presented their proposals. The firm Witt/Keiffer was selected.

"The search firms help us build a strong candidate pool by making contact with different people, not only those looking for jobs, but other candidates that would fit well with our program," Allred said.

With the help of the consulting firm, and their own inquiries among their professional peers, the committee members put together a list of 14 candidates, which were then narrowed down to four, who came to visit campus in February.

"The candidates were here for two days and met with lots of students and faculty, the president and other deans," Allred said. "It's definitely a lot. We make people run the gauntlet, but it's pretty critical because we want to allow every opportunity to weigh in."

The committee put together a list of qualities the new dean needed to have, including: a vision, a passion, a willingness to advocate for the school, communication skills and an aim at developing community.

"You might think nobody can have all this, but in fact there are people who have all this; she has all that," he said.

Allred said it was particularly important for the committee to find the candidate that best fit the school.

"All four candidates were excellent scholars, so that doesn't differentiate them," Allred said. "All four had a deep appreciation for liberal arts education. I think that what made Kathleen Skerrett particularly appealing to a broad range was her ability to listen, her enthusiasm, her charisma, her way of looking at you and responding to your questions and conveying that you were the only person she was speaking to."

After the four candidates visited campus, Allred received hundreds of email evaluations from those she met.

"Who she was resonated with who she met," Allred said. "Some emails I received were long, eight to 10 paragraphs, almost two pages. Some just said, 'Hire this woman!' Big exclamation point! All were useful."

Once the committee chose her unanimously, and she was approved by the Board of Trustees, Allred said he then called her.

"I remember I was standing in my backyard on my cell phone since I don't get any service in my house," he said. "She answered and said, 'Oh.'"

Allred said he didn't expect an answer right then. Skerrett called back the next day and said she wanted to do it. Allred said it was important that the decision was mutual.

"Richmond was not on my horizon," Skerrett said. "I mean, how would a Canadian end up in the American South? But I was attracted to this leadership team and this moment in the university's history. It's amazing. This is a great university."

Contact reporter Elizabeth Ygartua at elizabeth.ygartua@richmond.edu.