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Collection Overview

Creator:
Princeton University. Office of the Dean of Faculty
Title:
Office of Dean of the Faculty Records
Repository:
Princeton University Archives
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/h415p9538
Dates:
1781-2016
Size:
159 boxes, 1 folder, 4 items, 45 Volumes, and 444 digital files
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Boxes 1-157; S-000272; S-000273
Language:
English

Abstract

Princeton University's dean of the faculty is the senior administrator responsible for the quality and well-being of the faculty and professional staffs of the university. In the past, the office has been responsible for matters ranging from student discipline to undergraduate academic life and the curriculum. This record group consists of the files of the faculty, the dean, the office, and its staff. In addition to the office's subject files, the collection includes the records of faculty meetings, faculty and University committees, and the personnel files of faculty, senior staff, and trustees.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

The Princeton University Office of the Dean of the Faculty Records consists of the files of the dean, the office's staff, as well as the faculty. In addition to the office's subject files, the collection holds the records of the faculty meetings, faculty and University committees, and the personnel files of faculty, senior staff, and trustees.

Series 1 (Faculty Meetings and Minutes) and most of Series 3 (Committees of the Faculty and the University) were actually created by the faculty and its designees (the secretary of the faculty for series 1 and the secretaries or chairs of committees, for series 3), not by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty. The dean's office does, however, lend office support to the faculty and maintains these records before they are transferred to the University Archives.

The remaining series (with the exception of Series 9, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty's archived website) consist of files were created by the dean's office for its own use. These series are particularly appropriate for research into the benefits and regulations concerning the faculty and professional staffs, faculty and department schedules and statistics, details about individual trustees and faculty and staff members, special academic programs and circumstances (such as teaching during wartime), cooperation between academic departments and with other universities, and the role of the dean of the faculty in the administration of the University.

Please see series descriptions in the contents list for additional information about individual series.

The dean of the faculty is Princeton University's oldest deanship, established in 1883 to relieve elderly President James McCosh of some of the administration's more taxing but less high-profile responsibilities. These responsibilities were defined by the trustees as "whatever does not pertain directly to the work of instruction, such in particular as the discipline of the College, the assignment of rooms and the sanitary condition of the Institution." When these duties were passed to the newly-established dean of the college in 1909, the dean of the faculty became responsible for matters relating to faculty and curriculum.

In the 1940s and 1950s, the dean of the college took on more responsibility for the oversight of undergraduate academic life, while the dean of the faculty became increasingly focused on the well-being of the faculty and the quality of instruction. In the early 1940s, Dean of the Faculty Robert K. Root's primary concerns were maintaining sound academic requirements for undergraduates, facilitating a quick course of study (so that students could graduate early and enlist), coordinating faculty leave for assisting the war effort and for other reasons, the effect of the war on student scholastic achievement, and student enrollment and attendance.

By the mid-1950s, however, the issues of central concern to Dean of the Faculty J. Douglas Brown were faculty and department-related. In 1956, he described the progress his office had made in his first ten years on the job in the following areas: faculty recruitment efforts, advancement procedures, the ongoing effort to appoint more assistant professors instead of instructors, salary rates, retirement and insurance plans, housing and other fringe benefits, the establishment of preceptorships and fellowships, and research administration. He was also proud of his work to expand or improve individual academic departments and schools. The initiative for these changes typically originated with the faculty, however, and was then supported by the dean and the University administration. The dean continued to work on curricular issues, but since the Second World War, the concerns of the dean of the faculty clearly shifted from the undergraduate academic experience to instructional oversight and faculty development. Until the creation of the position of provost in 1966, the dean of the faculty was also responsible for taking on the duties of the president in his absence.

By the mid-1990s, Dean of the Faculty Amy Gutmann was concerned with both the faculty and the professional research, technical, and library staffs of the University. Gutmann's office worked on issues related to faculty recruitment (especially of women and underrepresented minorities), rules changes, teaching initiatives, retirement, reviews of academic departments, internet use, and faculty honors. Issues related to the professional staffs included general personnel administration, appointments and advancements, salaries, and immigration. In her annual report of 1995-1996, Gutmann makes no mention of undergraduate academic life or the curriculum-subjects of crucial importance to her predecessors of the first half of the twentieth century.

Princeton's faculty, the creator of series 1 and most of series 3, has long been responsible for the determination of major University policies. With the president presiding, the faculty oversees functions as diverse as admissions, curriculum, instruction, research, discipline, examinations, standing, and extracurricular life, and advises the president on faculty appointments and advancements. According to Dean of the Faculty J. Douglas Brown, "The educational policies of the University have long been the product of thorough study and lively debate by a faculty which through these orderly procedures assumes an unusual degree of concern and responsibility. The president and deans exercise their influence upon these policies far more through their leadership in the faculty and its committees than through any assumption of ex officio authority." Unlike most other research universities, Princeton's professors have remained one faculty over the years (except for a few years at the turn of the twentieth century), instead of dividing into schools or colleges with different policies and priorities. The Princeton faculty has proven to be cohesive, active in University governance, and influential.

Most deans of the faculty were appointed after serving a number of years on the Princeton faculty, usually with significant experience as a department or committee chair. Deans of the faculty are chosen in part because they have earned the trust, respect, and admiration of both their faculty colleagues and University administrators. Deans of the faculty remain faculty members and sometimes continue to teach classes during their tenures as dean.

Deans of the Faculty, Department, Tenure as Dean

James Ormsbee Murray, English, 1883-1899

Samuel Ross Winans, Greek, 1899-1903

Henry Burchard Fine, mathematics, 1903-1912

William Francis Magie, physics, 1912-1925

Luther Pfahler Eisenhart, mathematics, 1925-1933

Robert Kilburn Root, English, 1933-1946

James Douglas Brown, economics, 1946-1967

Robert Roswell Palmer, history, 1967-1968

Richard Allen Lester, economics, 1968-1973

Aaron Lemonick, physics, 1973-1989

Robert C. Gunning, mathematics, 1989-1995

Amy Gutmann, politics, 1995-1997

Joseph H. Taylor, physics, 1997-2003

David P. Dobkin, computer science, 2003-2014

Deborah Prentice, psychology and public affairs, 2014-2017

Sanjeev R. Kulkarni, electrical engineering, 2017-2021

Arrangement

Files are arranged alphabetically within series, unless otherwise noted.

Collection Creator Biography:

Princeton University. Office of the Dean of Faculty

Princeton University's Dean of the Faculty is the senior administrator responsible for the quality and well-being of the faculty and professional staff of the university.

Collection History

Acquisition:

This collection has been transferred to the University Archives in periodic installments for decades.

Accruals

Periodic transfers of general records from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty are expected indefinitely; personnel files are transferred annually and added to series 6.

Appraisal

No information on appraisal is available.

Processing Information

Processed by Matthew Reeder, Rosalba D. Varallo, Shannon DeVore '07, Page Dykstra '06, Lindsey Huddle '07, and Christina McMillan '07. Finding aid written by Matthew Reeder. Box 153 added by Christie Peterson with assistance from Suchi Mandavilli '14 in December 2010. Series 9 added by Lynn Durgin in December 2015. Finding aid updated by Annalise Berdini in February 2018.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Access restrictions to materials in this collection are determined by the dean of the faculty in consultation with the university archivist. The written permission of the dean of the faculty is required by anyone who wishes to view closed material.

Subseries 1A: the pre-July 1984 minutes are closed for 75 years; the remaining minutes are open for immediate research.

Subseries 1B: this subseries is open for research use.

Subseries 1C: the materials pertaining to pre-July 1984 meetings are closed for 75 years; the materials pertaining to all meetings held since are closed for 30 years.

Subseries 1D: this subseries is closed for 75 years. Subseries 1E: Faculty Memorial Resolutions is open for research.

Series 2: this series is closed for 30 years. Some folders are closed for 75 years; these folders are marked with large, red flags and indicated on the folder list.

Series 3: this series is closed for 30 years. Some folders are closed for 75 years; these folders are marked with large, red flags and indicated on the folder list.

Series 4: this series is closed for 30 years. Some folders are closed for 75 years; these folders are marked with large, red flags and indicated on the folder list.

Series 5: this series is open.

Series 6: Faculty and Professional Staff Files are closed until 100 years after the person's year of birth or 5 years after the person's year of death, whichever is longer.

Series 7: materials in this series are closed for 25 years from the date of their creation.

Series 9: Public Website is open for research use.

Series 10: this series is closed for 30 years from the date of creation of the record.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. The Trustees of Princeton University hold copyright to all materials generated by Princeton University employees in the course of their work. For instances beyond Fair Use, if copyright is held by Princeton University, researchers do not need to obtain permission, complete any forms, or receive a letter to move forward with use of materials from the Princeton University Archives.

For instances beyond Fair Use where the copyright is not held by the University, while permission from the Library is not required, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

This collection contains records created and used on computing devices. Researchers are responsible for meeting the technical requirements needed to access these materials, including any and all hardware and software.

Credit this material:

Office of Dean of the Faculty Records; Princeton University Archives, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/h415p9538
Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Boxes 1-157; S-000272; S-000273

Find More

Related Materials

The records of various University administrative offices, academic departments, organizations, and committees relate to, and sometimes overlap with, this collection. Of particular interest may be the Office of the President Records, the Office of the Provost Records, the Office of the Secretary Records, and the Office of the Dean of the College Records. Yearly annual reports to the president have, from the early 1940s to the present, included reports from the dean of the faculty. These reports, held in the University Archives at Mudd Library reveal the most important responsibilities and accomplishments of the office of the dean from year to year.

Notebooks kept by Katherine Rohrer while she worked as Associate Dean of Faculty between 1993 and 2001 can be found in AC195, Office of the Provost Records, Subseries 11H.

Other Finding Aids

Records described in Series 6 Faculty, Staff, and Trustee Personnel Files are indexed in a searchable database: Faculty and Professional Staff Index, 1764-2006.

These records may also be found in finding aids for each subgroup of the Faculty and Staff Professional Files:

Subgroup 1: A is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 1: A.

Subgroup 2: B is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 2: B.

Subgroup 3: C is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 3: C.

Subgroup 4: E is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 4: E.

Subgroup 5: F is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 5: F.

Subgroup 6: G is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 6: G.

Subgroup 7: H is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 7: H.

Subgroup 8: I-K is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 8: I-K.

Subgroup 9: L is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 9: L.

Subgroup 10: M is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 10: M.

Subgroup 11: N is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 11: N.

Subgroup 12: O is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 12: O.

Subgroup 13: P is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 13: P.

Subgroup 14: R-S is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 14: R-S.

Subgroup 15: T-W is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 15: T-W.

Subgroup 16: Other, Unknown, and Multiple Departments is available at Faculty and Professional Staff Files 1764-2014, Subgroup 16: Other, Unknown, and Multiple Departments.

Full text searching of this collection's archived website(s) is available through the Archive-It interface.

Bibliography

A 1974 dissertation studying the creation of the position of dean of the faculty at the College of New Jersey (Princeton University), and the campus climate that led to it (call number LD4616.R676 1974) is held at Mudd Library. The dissertation was written for the education department at Rutgers by Michael Louis Rosenthal and is entitled, The Founding of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty: Undergraduate Life at the College of New Jersey: An Anthropological View of History.

In the composition of this finding aid's history section, the following works were consulted: Articles titled "Faculty" by J. Douglas Brown and "Dean of the Faculty" in Alexander Leitch's A Princeton Companion (Princeton University Press, 1978); Annual reports to the president from the dean of the faculty; Michael Louis Rosenthal's 1974 Rutgers dissertation, The Founding of the Office of the Dean of the Faculty: Undergraduate Life at the College of New Jersey: An Anthropological View of History.

Subject Terms:
College administrators.
Education and state.
Education, Higher--New Jersey.
Educators--New Jersey--Princeton--Correspondence.
Educators--New Jersey--Princeton--Reports.
Genre Terms:
Born digital.
Correspondence
Memorabilia.
Reports.
Web sites.
Names:
Princeton University
Brown, J. Douglas (James Douglas) (1898-1986)
Eisenhart, Luther Pfahler, 1876-1965 -- Correspondence.
Fine, Henry B. (Henry Burchard), 1858-1928
Gunning, Robert C. (Robert Clifford), 1931-
Lemonick, Aaron, 1923-
Lester, Richard Allen, 1908-1997
Magie, William Francis, 1858-1943
Murray, James O. (James Ormsbee), 1827-1899
Palmer, R.R. (Robert Roswell), 1909-2002
Root, Robert K. (Robert Kilburn), 1877-1950
Winans, Samuel Ross, 1855-1910