Thursday, Apr 16, 2009
Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, Baker Ferguson Chair of Politics and Leadership, will assume the office of provost and dean of the faculty of Whitman College, effective July 1, 2009.
Kaufman-Osborn, who is currently chair of the faculty, will fill the position vacated by Lori Bettison-Varga, who has accepted the presidency of Scripps College in California.
“I’m delighted to have this opportunity, especially given the caliber of the people I will be working with in the faculty and administration,” said Kaufman-Osborn. He foresees a smooth transition, relying on the experience he gained during his service as interim dean of the faculty during the 2006-07 academic year.
Kaufman-Osborn sees his first priority as building on the new initiatives brought to Whitman by President George Bridges and by Bettison-Varga in a way that is “consistent with our character and reputation as one of the best small liberal arts and sciences colleges in the nation.”
Another priority is to explore ways to ensure the success and satisfaction of faculty, especially those who have come to Whitman in recent years. “The demographic composition of the faculty has changed considerably since I first arrived in 1982, and we need to make sure that the College responds effectively to its present character.”
Addressing the challenges created by the current economic climate will impact everyone, stated Kaufman-Osborn, but “there is much we can accomplish even when we are financially constrained.”
Current issues aside, Kaufman-Osborn sees the primary responsibility of the provost and dean of the faculty as ensuring that the College offers the very best undergraduate education it can. “Whitman College has been on an upward trajectory in this regard for as long as I’ve been here,” he said, “and that makes my task much easier.”
Kaufman-Osborn's major interests are in the areas of political theory and, specifically, the politics of law. He is a former president of the Western Political Science Association as well as of the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, and he recently completed a term on the executive council of the American Political Science Association. Recent publications include “We are all torturers now: Accountability after Abu Ghraib,” Theory & Event, 2008; “Gender Trouble at Abu Ghraib?” Politics & Gender, 2005); and “From Noose to Needle: Capital Punishment and the Late Liberal State” (Michigan University Press, 2002). Awards include the 2001 Whitman College Town-Gown Award; the Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the best paper delivered at the 1995 meeting of the Western Political Science Association; and the Robert Fluno Award for Distinguished Teaching in the Social Sciences (1991). He received his doctoral degree from Princeton University in 1982.
He will resign the position of faculty chair, effective July 1, 2009, and the faculty will elect his successor at its regularly scheduled meeting in May.
End
CONTACT: Lenel Parish, Whitman College News Service, (509) 527-5156
