Professor Christopher Moore to Step Down as Dean of the College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College; Formation of the Dean Search Advisory Committee
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
I write to share news that Professor Christopher Moore, who has guided the College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College as its dean since 2014, will step down from his leadership role at the conclusion of the 2022-2023 academic year and retire from Boston University.
Under Dean Moore’s leadership, Sargent College has continued to elevate its stature as one of the nation’s premier training grounds for health professionals, recruiting outstanding faculty, producing high-impact research with substantial external funding, and making significant strides in undergraduate enrollment and success in maintaining highly ranked graduate programs.
Throughout his eight years at BU, Dean Moore has placed a high priority on supporting research and faculty scholarship and in providing a caliber of clinical experience that enables Sargent students to grow and thrive in their chosen fields. This approach has borne out in several areas, from national standings where Sargent’s occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, and physical therapy programs placed #1, #10, and #20, respectively, in the most recent US News ranking, to the more than $20M in external funding Sargent researchers secured this past year to support important advances across a range of diverse disciplines. Perhaps most importantly, it is reflected in the high percentages of Sargent students who each year pass their certification exams and land rewarding careers in high-demand fields at rates far exceeding national averages. Dean Moore’s focus on excellence and his approachability as a leader have been a vital part of that, and we thank him for his exceptional service.
A national search is planned to identify the next dean of Sargent College. The process for constituting a dean search advisory committee, outlined in the BU Faculty Handbook, specifies that: “the advisory committee shall consist of three faculty members elected by the faculty of the school for which a dean is to be selected, two faculty members elected by the Faculty Council from other schools, and as many as three members designated by the provost.”
The faculty members who are appointed to serve on the advisory committee will have responsibility for directing the search effort and should be among our most thoughtful, engaged, and committed scholars, teachers, and leaders. Potential committee members should demonstrate the capacity to proactively attract and recruit outstanding candidates for the Sargent College deanship; the faculty most well-positioned to carry out this work will be actively engaged in significant ways in their professional communities and within their academic disciplines. Please note that no member of the advisory committee may be considered for the position of dean.
I am requesting that the faculty in Sargent College organize internally to solicit nominations and to elect three faculty representatives to the search advisory committee. Any individual who would have a role in overseeing the election within Sargent should neither wish to serve on the dean search advisory committee nor want to be a candidate for the dean’s position. Accordingly, I have asked Professor Cara Stepp of the Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences to organize the election to identify the Sargent representatives. I will hold a special meeting for the Sargent faculty later this month to discuss the search effort.
Boston University’s Faculty Council will also be sending an email communication to all members of the faculty on both campuses requesting nominations of candidates external to Sargent to fill the two elected seats on the dean search advisory committee. Nominations or expressions of interest can be sent to the Faculty Council (fafc@bu.edu). Please note that membership on the Faculty Council itself is not an eligibility requirement for election to the search advisory committee by the Faculty Council. I request submission of the results of both of these elections no later than September 28. Following receipt, I will appoint additional members so that the committee will be assembled and prepared to begin its work immediately.
The Sargent Dean Search Advisory Committee will be charged with responsibility for:
- Proposing refinements to the initial position description;
- Actively soliciting nominations for candidates from appropriate sources within the University and nationally;
- Actively recruiting outstanding candidates who have a record of administrative leadership and achievement and an academic profile suitable for appointment at the level of professor at Boston University;
- Evaluating the qualifications and assessing the strength of nominees and applicants;
- Consulting with the faculty of Sargent and other school and University stakeholders on finalists; and
- Recommending the names of 3-5 qualified candidates to me, outlining the strengths and limitations of each, for final selection by the president and me, with approval by the Board of Trustees.
The members of the Sargent Dean Search Advisory Committee should not vote as part of its process and deliberations. Rather, the work should be accomplished by discussion and consensus. Ideally, the committee will conclude its work and submit its recommendations no later than February 1, 2023.
Please join me in thanking Chris Moore for his service to Boston University and to Sargent College. The formal appointment of the dean search advisory committee for Sargent is forthcoming, and I appreciate your contributions to and support of the search effort.