CMC Magazine, Fall 2005

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In the summer of 1978, Jerome Garris P'91 P'01, then vice president and dean of students, hired Torrey Sun, a doctoral candidate at Claremont Graduate University, as assistant dean of students for residential life. A pressing issue immediately required both men's attention: seventy-six transfer students were scheduled to arrive at CMC in a few weeks, and the residence halls were full. Sun, now vice president for student affairs, recalls the can-do attitude of his new boss as they appraised emergency housing options, encountering one property that would serve many students but was overgrown and junk-strewn. "The next thing I knew," he says, "we were headed east on Foothill Boulevard to rent a skip loader. Jerry drove that thing all the way back to the house, and we cleared the property of weeds and debris ourselves."

More than 20 years later, that roll-up-the-sleeves attitude is still evident as Garris steps into his new role as vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty. "Not only does Jerry always try to find a solution," says Sun, "but he would never ask anyone to do something he wouldn't do himself." Garris began his CMC career as an assistant professor of political science in 1974, then served as vice president and dean of students from 1977 to 1984. He then moved to Ashland, Va., to accept the academic dean's role at Randolph-Macon College, later becoming that college's provost and acting president in 1990 and 1992.

Returning to Claremont with his wife, Penny, in 1998, Garris since has served as associate vice president of research and institutes, and director of foundation and corporate relations, while also serving as a senior lecturer in government.

His lengthy partnership with CMC made him uniquely qualified, said President Pamela Gann, announcing the appointment last spring, to address the crucial academic issues confronting the College.

"Jerry knows the College well," says Gann, "as an employee, a member of the faculty, an administrator, and as a parent. The types of academic issues before us in the next three years require someone who is both familiar with CMC and possesses extensive academic administrative experience."

Garris succeeds William Ascher, the Donald C. McKenna Professor of Government and Economics, who, during his tenure as dean, provided strong leadership in the academic planning process of the Strategic Plan, with an emphasis on the teacher-scholar model and overall academic excellence of every department; hired more than 30 percent of the College's faculty members, with substantial transformations in joint science, economics, and history; and supervised four important curricular reviews, including a change in the science general education requirement, a change requiring the senior thesis within the major, development of learning outcomes for information technology fluency, and creation of two new sequences—financial economics, and the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights. Ascher will return to CMC to teach following a sabbatical this academic year.

In his new role, Garris will continue the College's emphasis on the teacher-scholar model at its core, encouraging the faculty to take full advantage of every opportunity to involve students in their research.

"As a nationally recognized liberal arts college," Garris says, "our focus on research should never be a subsidiary goal. Ours is a highly productive faculty of teacher-scholars, and I look forward to working collaboratively with them to support the College's mission, for that mission is one of the College's genuine strengths."

Chief among his obligations, Garris says, is regular interaction with professors, including additional events to bring faculty together more often, both on and off campus. He expects that effort to be facilitated by the simultaneous appointment of two new associate deans of the faculty: Gregory D. Hess, the Russell S. Bock Professor of Public Economics and Taxation, and Amy L. Kind, associate professor of philosophy/religious studies.

"I'm privileged to be the first dean with that kind of support," Garris says. "It will help me be more responsive to faculty needs."

Although both associate deans will be involved in a wide range of issues addressed by the Dean of the Faculty's office, Hess' efforts will focus primarily on faculty development, and Kind's on curriculum.

Other items on Garris' agenda are implementation of the four-course teaching load, which will reduce the faculty course load from five to four classes a year.

Garris predicts that implementing the latter change "will be a major effort. But it's necessary if we are to enhance our teacher-scholar model, improve faculty contact with students, and improve our recruiting competitiveness with the nation's other top liberal arts colleges."

Garris also will oversee the establishment of CMC's firstever post-tenure faculty review system, conduct a scheduled review of CMC's role in the Joint Science Department, and work to consolidate his relationships with members of the CMC Board of Trustees.

Garris' ability to think matters through or, as Sun says, "to step back and look at the same issue through different lenses, regardless of his own opinion," will benefit the College. "Those qualities are exceedingly important in an administrative role."

Finally, Garris hopes to boost the already strong relationship between CMC and its alumni.

"As a parent (to sons Christian '91 and Alex '01), and as someone just named an honorary alumnus, I'll be looking for new linkages that can further the relationship between our alumni and current students, because it is important for CMC graduates to feel that alumni are ready to help them succeed," Garris says. "That's how we build a true sense of community."

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