Daniel to leave student affairs after next September

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Dean of Students Jack Daniel announced to the… Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Dean of Students Jack Daniel announced to the office of student affairs that he would resign from his position as dean of students, effective Sept. 1, 2005.

Daniel met with Provost James V. Maher before sending out the e-mail announcement, which explained that he believes “student affairs would benefit from someone who could focus more on student affairs.” He also wrote that he needed more time to focus on other priorities at Pitt and on his own scholarship.

In his e-mail to student affairs yesterday, Daniel wrote that his decision to leave student affairs was “one of the most difficult personal and professional decisions that [he] ever made.”

In an interview yesterday, Daniel said he asked Maher a few weeks ago to begin looking for a student affairs replacement. Although Daniel said he first mentioned that he was considering leaving the office when speaking to Maher in August, he has been annually assessing his role in student affairs.

“I did not go to student affairs with the intention that being vice provost and dean would be my final [job],” Daniel explained.

“The job itself wasn’t even something that I aspired to,” he added, saying that his reflections became more serious as he placed increasing emphasis on his scholarly endeavors.

While details of how Daniel’s position will be split remain unclear, Daniel said that he would continue to work in academic affairs, while a new position would be created to focus on student affairs.

“What I expect this to do is to have two people where it used to be one,” he said.

Daniel’s counterpart in student affairs will hold all the student-affairs responsibilities he now holds, he said, including an active voice in judicial and Greek affairs.

Last year, some members of Pitt’s Greek community expressed concern after Daniel exercised his power to modify or overturn judicial board recommendations, giving two fraternities suspension penalties that the judicial board did not recommend.

On the academic-affairs side, Daniel said he plans to continue focusing on undergraduates, enrollment management and diversity.

“It would have to focus on undergraduates,” he said of the job he will take next September.

In a different e-mail yesterday, sent to a number of University leaders and to everyone in the provost’s office, Maher announced Daniel’s resignation and the commencement of a search for his replacement in student affairs.

Through Daniel, “the important work of aligning academic and student affairs has been accomplished,” Maher wrote. He also alerted the recipients that the job would be divided into two jobs, at Daniel’s recommendation.

“[Daniel] has also persuaded me that, while integrating academic affairs and student affairs continues to be vital to our ongoing efforts to optimize undergraduate education, those responsibilities are sufficiently weighty that it might be better to have two individuals working to fulfill them,” Maher wrote.

Creating a stronger bond between academic and student affairs has strengthened the whole University, Daniel said.

“You get a synergy that enriches student affairs and the whole University,” he said.

Daniel said one resulting improvement can be seen in the services offered by Pitt’s Student Health Services. Thanks to a partnership between Student Health and Pitt’s department of family medicine, Daniel said, students have an excellent staff of physicians available to them.

Daniel could not say whether students would be directly involved in selecting a new dean of students. This summer, Greek leaders interviewed candidates for the Greek adviser position. Alternatively, students’ opinions might be gauged through Daniel’s analysis of a 50-question satisfaction survey given to 981 students.

Either way, Daniel said, student concerns would be considered in the selection process. He also suggested that the provost probably has not yet developed a plan for reviewing applicants.

The provost will open the student affairs position to candidates nationwide, Daniel said, though he added that people within the University are always welcome to apply in national searches.

Daniel said he did not initially intend to enter into administration, explaining that his first step came when he was appointed the first chair of Pitt’s Africana studies department.

“I was a social activist, as a student and as a faculty member,” Daniel said, explaining that he realized he “had to be the person from the provost’s office working directly with the admissions office” to meet his goals in increasing “accessibility and diversity.”

Once he has shed his duties in student affairs, Daniel hopes to begin bringing more attention to issues of diversity at Pitt — issues that have changed a good deal since his social activism in the 1960s.

“Diversity has many more permutations than just African-American,” Daniel said.

Given the opportunity to do anything, Daniel said, he would write, adding that he would also want to continue teaching.

“Everything that you’re thinking about and writing about comes alive [in the classroom],” he explained.

In the spring semester, Daniel will teach a course about “African-American communication.”

In the past year, Daniel and his son, Omari Daniel, have made about five television and video appearances, and traveled to about 10 national conferences and meetings, he said. Much of their work has been toward promoting “We Fish,” a work of nonfiction that the two wrote together about their lives and relationship. Daniel said that, while he generally pursues such work while on vacation from Pitt during June, July and August, he would like more time to devote toward his scholarly efforts.

“You can’t just turn your mind off and on when you’re doing that,” he explained.

Asked to offer advice to his successor, Daniel put great emphasis on working with students.

“Be courageous enough to trust students, enough to interact with them,” Daniel said. “Don’t be afraid of students.”

By interacting with students, truly listening to and not simply patronizing them, a leader could learn a lot, Daniel said.