UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 2, Page 1
September 12, 1991
A&S dean liked campus 1st time she saw it, in '80
Mary Richards, dean of the College of Arts and Science since
July 1, was impressed with the University of Delaware the first
time she visited it. That was more than a decade ago when she
attended a workshop with the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS),
held here in 1980.
Over the years, Richards maintained contact with Helen
Gouldner-whom she succeeded as dean. The two would meet
occasionally at conferences as a result of their administrative
academic positions.
Richards started her academic career in 1971 at the University
of Tennessee, where she held several administrative positions,
including assistant to the vice president for academic affairs,
assistant dean of graduate studies, associate dean of the graduate
school at Knoxville, and associate dean and acting dean of the
College of Liberal Arts.
In 1988, she took a position at Auburn University as dean of
the College of Liberal Arts.
Eventually, Richards discovered that Gouldner was planning to
retire, but Richards said she originally had not considered herself
as a serious candidate for the Delaware position. At the time, she
had recently arrived at Auburn and wanted to concentrate on her
duties there. However, after being nominated, she decided to pursue
the post.
"I decided that the opportunity was so good," Richards said,
"and was not likely to occur again. I have a philosophy, that good
opportunities never come along when it's convenient."
As a result, Richards completed her last day in her Alabama
office on June 30 and was working on the University's Newark campus
July 1.
Her new job, she explained, primarily involves providing
leadership to the central academic interests in her college and
being involved in solving the academic needs of the overall
University community.
During this academic year, she said, a top responsibility will
be handling the new budgetary realities affecting the institution.
"The challenge is to protect our strengths," Richards said, "and to
give us an agenda for the future, even though we may not have
significant new resources allocated to accomplish that agenda."
Finding new ways to enhance existing resources is one area
that Richards emphasizes. She believes that members of her
college, along with staff in the development office, should work to
create a diverse base of support within the community. She also is
defining a new associate dean position to work with faculty to
increase grants and contract activity within the college. This
position, she said, also would promote grants that would cut across
departments and support new initiatives.
Innovative education through cooperative programs is one of
the the many attractions of Delaware for Richards. She said she was
impressed with the strengths in interdepartmental programming,
pointing out such areas as the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies
(MALS), the Honors Program and the University's close relationship
with Winterthur and Hagley museums and Longwood Gardens.
"I found these programs to be attractive and exciting. I also
found a flexibility to respond to new developments in scholarship
and research. The latest directions in academia are through such
partnerships. In my own judgment, one of the major strengths of the
University has been to stay vital in many areas."
An expert in Old English literature and law, Richards also has
had a solid educational and professional background in the
sciences.
"I have benefited from an absolutely excellent liberal arts
education," she said. "I am not a math and science illiterate. When
I was associate dean in Knoxville, I worked with a college of
comparable scope and size to Delaware. We had mathematics, science
and computer science as well. I worked closely with the sciences
there.
"At Auburn, I had a close collaboration with the dean of the
science and math college. We worked on joint projects and developed
the core curriculum together. I've naturally had close ties with
science and math throughout my administrative career."
Richards said she intends to continue her predecessor's
organizational system of dividing her college's departments into
groups- science and mathematics, social sciences, humanities and
fine arts.
Since her arrival in July, she has visited nearly every
department, program and center, to see the physical facilities and
meet the faculty and staff.
Richards said she will have an elected advisory group to work
closely with her.
In addition, a six-member college budget council, modeled
after the University's similar unit, includes three members-
selected by the college senate and executive committee-and three
department chairpersons appointed by Richards.
"This group will look at all the areas of the college and
suggest a plan and ways to meet our target budget for the 1992-93
academic year.
"I'm a firm believer in self-help," Richards said. "I have
experience in dealing with tight budgets and in finding ways to
generate funds."
The budgetary situation of the University, Richards said, was
made clear to her during the interview process. She said she was
told of the needs to downsize and to work with less than was
available in the past.
She recalled her reaction at the time of her interview.
"Although I do not have all the details," she told the panel, "my
philosophy is that you never have all you need, and money for new
initiatives is hard to come by. A college must decide on what areas
are most important to its future and identify the means of
achieving those goals that go beyond the University's abilities to
support them fully. And accomplishing that process may be through
conventional and unconventional means."
With the ultimate responsibility for 23 departments, seven
centers and nine programs, Richards still plans to get away to a
quiet spot, perhaps a study in the library, to conduct her
research.
"In my own scholarship and research, I find a lot of
intellectual refreshment," she said.
She said she finds it important as a person and as leader of
a college to remain active as a scholar. It gives her a sense of
optimism for the future and is an emotional outlet from the
administrative duties associated with her role as dean.
"I know the importance of finding a way of staying in touch
with one's field. I've attended professional meetings, read papers
and submitted research proposals. I've served on review panels and
participated in collaborative scholarly projects.
"It all helps me in thinking about the problems of the
college. I must see that the faculty receive the support needed to
do the best job they can to serve our students and to grow as
professionals," she said.
Richards' concentration is on literary texts and manuscripts
produced during a 150-year period from the late 10th to the early
12th centuries. Because she examines both the physical and the
literary content of the works, she sometimes must make on-site
inspections of the books.
"As a result of my research over the years," she said, "I've
spent time at libraries in England and France." Her new job brings
her conveniently close to the Walters Art Gallery in Baltimore,
where she has consulted manuscripts to help her studies.
Ask the new dean about the importance of advisement and she
offers an immediate response.
"I put a lot of emphasis on academic advisement. One of the
biggest challenges facing a comprehensive institution is providing
students with the kind of advising that will have a positive impact
on the rest of their lives. It's hard and time-consuming to do
right, and it must be ongoing and consistent. The college is
fortunate to have an excellent advising center for undeclared
students.
"The time factor can be hard for faculty to deal with,
especially if you're teaching a large course load and students have
individual needs. There are papers to read and grade. On top of all
this, advising majors can be a crushing workload."
She said different departments address the issue in different
ways and suggested it might be better for certain faculty members
to be assigned major advising responsibilities and less for other
tasks, such as teaching and committee work.
"It's probably good to have a few advising specialists who
approach the task with enthusiasm," the new dean said. "It's better
to build advising in the workload instead of adding it on top of
everything else. You indicate the value you give to advising if you
build in a reward for a good job. In my judgment, if you put it on
as an afterthought, it assigns a low value."
She and her husband, Robert Netherland, who works for Delmarva
Power Company, enjoy traveling, art and cultural activities.
Accepting a new job at a new place brings with it a number of
changes, adjustments and responsibilities. Richards eagerly shares
her positive attitude about the future.
"I'm excited about being a member of the new team that's in
place," she said. "I knew both David Roselle and Dick Murray: both
had been graduate deans while I was associate dean at Knoxville.
"With the appoint of Byron Pipes as provost, I knew the
quality of leadership at the University would have the ability to
get things done and help it emerge as a stronger place. Nationally,
higher education is going through a similar process. It's exciting
being part of a team that will handle future challenges well."
- Ed Okonowicz