The composition of the search committee for the newly created Dean of Diversity and Academic Advancement (DDAA) was finalized last week. Dean Mike Whaley will head the committee that will contain two seniors, one sophomore and three additional faculty members.

“We agreed to have an equal number of students, faculty and staff serve on the search committee,” said Raphael Medrano ’06, one of the two seniors appointed. “I nominated the students who beside myself sit on the committee, and discussed with Dean Maria [Cruz-Saco] which faculty members would be great additions to the committee. There has been student input throughout the whole process.”

Medrano, who is Chair of the WSA Student Affairs committee, is also co-chair of the student life committee with Dean Cruz-Saco and has been involved with this project since the beginning of fall semester. He is also co-chair of the Queer Task Force, the Undergraduate Residential Life committee, and has worked with Dean Whaley several times in the past.

Rachel Wertheimer ’06, the other senior chosen by Medrano and Cruz-Saco, also boasts extensive experience with the candidate selection process. She has been involved with the search committees for the Associate Dean of Academic Student Services and the Student Activities Program coordinator.

“The deans know me pretty well and thought I would be interested,” Wertheimer said. “In addition, I’m an active member of the queer community and a student receiving significant financial aid, so in terms of diversity, I suppose I represent some of the categories of students the appointed dean will be working with at Wesleyan.”

The remaining student serving on the committee is LaShawn Springer ’08. The faculty members include Associate Professor of Romance Languages & Literatures Octavio Flores, Director of the Center for Faculty Career Development Andrew Szegedy-Maszak, and Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry Ishita Mukerji.

“They are all faculty who have been involved in past years with the dean’s office in different capacities,” Whaley said. “So we asked them if they would be willing to serve.”

According to Whaley, the job description was listed last week on the human resources webpage, which is where all jobs that the University offers are first posted. It is also posted in a number of places that advertise jobs in higher education.

“[The job is] listed on websites like Academic Careers Online,” Whaley said. “We’ve also posted on Diversityinc.com and publications like ‘Hispanic Outlook’ [and] ‘The Black Collegian’ because of the particular qualifications we’re interested in.”

As written in the job description released by the University, the DDAA will report to the Dean of the College and serve as a resource for underrepresented students. The DDAA will support student-led initiatives, oversee the planning of Orientation Week, and have a three-person staff.

The details of the campus visits will be discussed at the search committee’s first meeting on Feb. 15. The deadline for application submissions is Feb. 17. The committee will then narrow down the list of candidates and begin individual phone interviews during spring break.

The final candidates narrowed down by the committee will be brought to campus in April, and the position will ideally be filled by Jul. 1.