Dean of Douglass College (Group I) Records

The office of the Dean of Douglass College has been in existence since the founding of the college as New Jersey College for Women (N.J.C.) in 1918. Mabel Smith Douglass, foremost among the prominent individuals involved in the founding of the college, served as dean from 1918 to 1933. She was largely responsible for its early development, instituting policies and procedures which enabled the college to survive its early years. Many of the traditions still carried on today were begun by Dean Douglass.

When failing health necessitated the retirement of Mrs. Douglass, the responsibilities of the office were carried out by Albert E. Meder, Jr., who served as acting dean from 1932 to 1934. Margaret T. Corwin became dean in 1934 and guided the growth and development of the college through the Second World War years and into the 1950's. Dean Corwin retired at the end of the academic year 1954-1955. On April 16, 1955, New Jersey College for Women was renamed Douglass College in honor of its first dean. The succeeding deans have been Mary I Bunting, 1955-1960, Ruth M. Adams, 1960-1966, Margery Somers Foster, 1967-1975, and Jewel Plumer Cobb, 1976-1981. The full list of deans and acting deans is provided in the Chronology.

The functions of the Dean of Douglass College have changed throughout the years. Prior to the mid 1960's, the Dean as the chief administrative officer had considerable control over the policies and operational procedures of the college. Functioning as a presidential dean, she controlled the budget, faculty aspects such as hiring, promoting, tenure recommendations, financial aid and housing. She had direct access not only to top officers of the University administration and governing board members, but to state government officials and others outside the academic community as well. Thus the college enjoyed particular autonomy, and the deans throughout this period worked to maintain this autonomy.

The Dean's position began to change when the financial control of the college was transferred to the University's central administration. Operations of several student service offices (e.g. admissions, financial aid, and registration) were also centralized. Access to state officials was now conducted through the central administration. The Dean's function as coordinator of academic departments on the Douglass campus and her control over procedures involving faculty continued, however.

When reorganization of the University occurred in 1981, Douglass College was considerably affected. Faculty of the various colleges in the University were consolidated in University-wide groups (i.e. Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Faculty of Professional Studies). This resulted in the transfer of control of faculty procedures from the Dean of Douglass to the newly established units. Many academic departments were no longer directly associated with Douglass College although the actual presentation of courses on the campus remained relatively unchanged.

With reorganization, the operational aspect of student services was to be handled on a University-wide basis, but policy was still to be set by Douglass College. Therefore, who was to be admitted and basic course requirements for graduation would be determined by the college. Assisting the Dean in these decisions are the Douglass College Fellows, a group of faculty members teaching courses at Douglass and interested in formulating policy.

1918-1933

Mabel Smith Douglass

Sept. 1932-Feb. 1934

Albert E. Meder, Jr. (acting)

Feb. 1934-1955

Margaret T. Corwin

1955-1960

Mary I. Bunting

Spring, 1960

John L. Swink (acting)

1960-1966

Ruth M. Adams

1966-1967

Margaret A. Judson (acting)

1967-1975

Margery Somers Foster

1975-1976

Paula P. Brownlee (acting)

1976-1981

Jewel Plummer Cobb

1981-1982

Mary S. Hartman (acting)

1982-1994

Mary S. Hartman

1994-1996

Martha A. Cotter (acting)

1996-2001

Barbara A. Shailor

2001-2002

Linda Stamato (acting)

2002-

Carmen Twillie Ambar