A Harvard official yesterday announced the appointment of two new assistant deans of first-year students. The pair will assume their responsibilities in the Freshman Dean's Office beginning June 1.
Assistant Director of the Office of Career Services (OCS) Eleanor Sparagana and David B. Fithian, a sociology lecturer at Yale have been chosen for the two jobs, Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth S. Nathans said in an interview yesterday.
Sparagana will move into Christina S. Griffith's post as assistant dean for first-years living in Canaday, Matthews and Weld. Fithian will take over Michael J. Middleton's '87 post as assistant dean for students in the Union dorms, Grays and Wigglesworth.
In choosing the candidates, Nathans said the search committee tried to hire competent administrators with strong ties to academia.
"Both of them will bring enthusiasm and the perspective of people who have been the academic route but have also decided that there are other things in lRTLÄto do," Nathans said. She added that Sparagana and Fithian are the only assistant deans of freshmen in her memory with Ph.D.s.
Middleton and Griffith will stay on until June 30 to help their replacements settle into their new positions.
Middleton, who has been assistant dean for four years, is leaving to pursue doctoral work in educational psychology, most likely at the University of Michigan, he said yesterday. Griffith, who will likely make a decision between a job and graduate school by the end of this week, is still undecided, according to Nathans.
"It's time for me to complete my degree and look for other opportunities in universities," Middleton said. "This is a wonderful job, [but] I came in when [the dean of first-year students] hired me with the understanding that I'd only be here three to five years."
The search for replacements began in December and was conducted by a committee of six members chaired by Register Georgene B. Herschbach. The committee received 100 applications, about 50 of which were complete, Nathans said.
Five semi-finalists and then three finalists were invited for on-site interviews. They met with a battery of Members of the Freshman Caucus said they werepleased by the amount of student consultation thatwent into the appointment. "Dean Nathans was very respectful of us," saidManisha Bharti ' with students that's deeper andbroader than the classroom alone," Fithian said. She added, "I see this opportunity as a way todo that.
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