Interim Associate Deans Announced

Professor John P. Burke of the Department of Political Science has agreed to serve as Interim Associate Dean for AY 2011-12.  Associate Dean Daniel Krymkowski, whom he will replace, is going to take a well-deserved sabbatical in the coming academic year.  The duties associated with the position are wide ranging but include enrollment management and oversight of the College’s diversity efforts; the person in this position is also the first point of contact for chairs in the social sciences and fine arts. 

Professor Burke came to UVM as an assistant professor in 1984, after having spent two years at Williams College as the Charles Culpepper Fellow in the Social Sciences following receipt of his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1982.  He served as the Chair of UVM’s Department of Political Science from 1991 to 1995, and has chaired several important searches at UVM during his tenure here.  Burke specializes in American politics, the presidency, and public administration, and is especially well-known for his expertise in all aspects of presidential transitions. He has published eight books and numerous articles, review essays, and book reviews.  His books include Becoming President: The Bush Transition, 2000-2003; Institutional Presidency: Organizing and Managing the White House from FDR to Bill Clinton; Presidential Transitions: From Politics to Practice; How Presidents Test Reality: Decisions on Vietnam, 1954 and 1965 (which was co-recipient of the 1990 Richard Neustadt Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book on the American presidency); The Institutional Presidency; Advising Ike: The Memoirs of Attorney General Herbert Brownell; and most recently, Honest Broker? The National Security Advisor and Presidential Decision Making.  In 2009-2010 Professor Burke was named a UVM University Scholar.

Professor David P. Massell of the Department of History has agreed to serve as Interim Associate Dean for AY 2011-12, taking over for Joel Goldberg while he serves as Interim Dean of the College. Professor Massell will officially begin his new position later this summer (in August). The duties associated with the position are wide ranging but include curriculum and oversight of the College’s first-year programs and advising; the person in this position is also the first point of contact for chairs in the natural sciences and humanities. In addition, Professor Massell has agreed to serve as Director of the Canadian Studies program for the upcoming academic year.

Professor Massell came to UVM as a visiting assistant professor in 1997 following receipt of his Ph.D. from Duke University.  He was appointed as Assistant Professor in 1999 and was awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor in 2005. Prior to embarking on his academic career in history, he taught history and social studies at the middle school and high school levels, and received his M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1990.  At UVM, he teaches United States history, Canadian history, Canadian-American relations, and seminars in environmental history, the history of Quebec, Canadian-American Relations and the Canadian North. In 2004, as an assistant professor, he received the Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award. Massell's scholarly interests involve studying resource development of the Canadian North; he published his first book Amassing Power: J.B. Duke and the Saguenay River, 1897-1927 in 2000. His second book, Quebec Hydropolitics: The Peribonka Concessions of World War Two, was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press earlier this year.

Interim Dean Goldberg says, "I am delighted that Professor Massell is joining us as Associate Dean and am confident in his ability to serve facutly, staff, and our students well. He has already begun spending time in the Dean's Office and, along with John Burke, will ensure that we have two outstanding Associate Deans in place at 438 College Street next year.  Please join me in welcoming Dave and John to the Dean’s Staff."