Lake Lambert has served as the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Mercer University for the past five years. However, when Lambert accepted the position of president at Hanover College in Indiana last spring, math professor Keith Howard stepped in to serve as the Interim Dean for CLA. In the meantime, the Dean Search Committee has been looking into who will fill Lambert’s shoes long-term.

John Scott, a professor of history and the director of the University Honors Program, is one of 13 members of the search committee. Scott said that the first step in selecting a new Dean is to decide on the qualities and characteristics needed to fill the position.

“There’s no one cookie-cutter description of a dean. Deans come in all stripes and varieties, and [our goal] is to figure out what kind of dean we want at this moment,” Scott said.

The committee is currently in the process of reviewing applications and will then run applicants through three rounds of interviews, during which the field of candidates will be narrowed significantly. Although many of the details regarding the search are confidential, Scott said that the committee has a comfortable number of applicants.

Although the committee does not have a set timeline for hiring a new dean, they are aware that the clock is running.

“In academia, there’s a calendar for hiring. However, the committee is mindful that this is a really important decision, and it’s not something we want to rush,” Scott said.