According to a Sept. 14 e-mail to the Brandeis community, Vice President for Enrollment Keenyn McFarlane and Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer will provide joint oversight of the offices that compose the Division of Students and Enrollment after the current Senior Vice President for Students and Enrollment Jean Eddy resigns at the end of the month.Eddy has accepted the job of senior vice president for Students and Enrollment at the Rhode Island School of Design.

The two will serve in this capacity until further notice while the University searches for Eddy's successor, explained Sawyer in an interview with the Justice. McFarlane added that they will both be involved in the search process.

"This is a fairly obvious and appropriate interim step going forward," said Sawyer, explaining that he and McFarlane were already very integrated into the department.

"As Vice President of Student

Affairs I already have about half of students and enrollment in my world, the other half Keenyn [McFarlane] was already integrated with, so it was more of an announcement than a significant change in either of our responsibilities," Sawyer explained.

Sawyer further explained that he and McFarlane would be assuming the duties that Eddy had previously overseen, such as attending meetings, making reports directly to the University president and interacting with the Board of Trustees.

Eddy assumed additional responsibilities for student admissions after former Dean of Admissions Gil Villanueva resigned in July 2009. Both McFarlane and Sawyer will be working closely with Mark Spencer, the new dean of Admissions, they said.

Spencer, who previously served as director of Admissions for the Cornell University College of Engineering and prior to his time at Cornell had served as the associate director of Admissions at Vassar College, began working in Admissions on Sept. 13, according to an e-mail from President Jehuda Reinharz during the summer.

"We have a really good division," Sawyer said, explaining that he and McFarlane aim "to not let the momentum of our division and our work lapse with Jean Eddy's leaving."

"We want to make sure transition is seamless," said McFarlane, "people will know [Eddy] is gone but not necessarily see it."



-Alana Abramson contributed reporting.