As  Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Malcolm Hill’s responsibilities include faculty recruitment, review, tenure and promotion, and nurturing faculty career development in the arenas of instruction, scholarship, and community engagement. He oversees the curriculum and academic initiatives. He works closely with the Registrar, the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, the Bates Dance Festival, and the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance. He is a member of the College’s senior administrative team and is the chief academic officer.

The Dean of the Faculty values a strong faculty as the foundation of an outstanding College and all in the Office organize their work to advance and support the faculty.

Dr. Krista Maywalt Aronson oversees 16 departments and programs in the humanities, interdisciplinary studies, and STEM divisions, including hiring, curricular, and management. She is also responsible for the faculty mentorship program, including developing and managing the Center For Inclusive Teaching and Learning (CITL). Additionally, she is the College Roux Institute (a graduate school of Engineering, Computing, and Artificial Intelligence located in Portland, ME) liaison — actively working to enhance opportunities for students and faculty across the College in these arenas.

 Dr. Aronson simultaneously maintains an active program of research and digital public scholarship, providing the framework, data, and resources necessary for the critical analysis of racial/cultural representation in multicultural children’s books through the Diverse BookFinder. This national initiative leverages research and technology to elevate cultural content, making finding multicultural children’s books easier and fostering systemic change. This type of innovative public scholarship and partnership represents a potential future of higher education. One that meets the expressed needs of students and broader society, demanding more direct connections between academic thought, everyday experience, and shared social problems.

Don Dearborn is the Associate Dean of Faculty for the Natural Sciences and Mathematics Division and the Social Sciences Division. In these divisions and across the college, he works in service of equity and inclusion initiatives such as Foundational Dialogues. He supports scholarship across the college, including administering the Bates Faculty Development Fund, serving as Research Integrity Officer, acting as liaison to the Institutional Research Board and the Office of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance, and supervising work at the coast at Shortridge and the Bates-Morse Mountain Conservation Area. He also serves as a Deputy Coordinator for Title IX and sits on Bates’ Behavioral Intervention Team. Other regular tasks include hiring temporary faculty, guiding departmental and program reviews, responding to curricular or course-related concerns (e.g., over-or under-enrollment, canceled courses, leaves), and meeting with students or parents who have concerns.

Dr. Dearborn is an evolutionary biologist, working in the lab and on remote islands to explore how evolution shapes host-parasite interactions and animal behavior.

Don Dearborn’s lab webpage

Reporting to the Dean of Faculty, Steve is responsible for student and faculty-facing programming related to student academic support and experience. In that role, and in partnership Senior Associate Dean of Students Kim Trauciniek, Steve develops, implements, and assesses all components of the multi-program First-Year Experience (FYE), which is Bates’s unique approach to first-year student transition to college. Steve also coordinates the implementation of the First-Year Seminar, which is the academic backbone of the FYE. Steve supports and evaluates pre-major academic advising, including design of resources such as the student advising portal and professional development programming for academic advisors and student support advisors, as well as oversees student academic support services of the Peer Learning Commons (in Ladd Library), which is composed of the Student Writing and Language Center (SWLC) and the Student Academic Support Center (SASC). Steve also serves as the chair of Extra-disciplinary Studies (EXDS), through which practitioner-taught short-term, peer-tutoring pedagogy, and other courses are developed and implemented.  In addition, Steve remains an active member of the Politics department as a Professor of Politics; he teaches 2 courses per year, remains an academic advisor to both pre-majors and majors, and advises senior theses.

The assistant dean for academic programs oversees student development programs, including research grants, fellowships, and C3 undergraduate fellowships. She serves as the point person for the Language Assistant Program; the STEM Scholars Program; and Commencement. She also coordinates the Mount David Summit and works on various aspects of Commencement.

The Assistant Dean of Strategy and Analysis works closely with faculty and staff across a range of areas essential to the academic mission of the college. The assistant dean manages and coordinates planning, assessment, and other data-intensive analytical activities including planning and assessing curricula, faculty staffing, enrollment, and other academic affairs functions. The Assistant Dean of Strategy and Analysis also coordinates and facilitates projects assigned by the Dean.

The Assistant Dean for Curricular Planning partners with faculty, deans, and staff to communicate and strategically enhance the Bates curriculum and the academic experience of students. The assistant dean provides support to the Faculty Chairs in creating and maintaining the curriculum of their academic units. The assistant dean works closely with the Committee on Faculty Governance to ensure best practices in the creation of faculty legislation and serves as a key resource for shared governance matters. Additional responsibilities involve curating a repository of faculty legislation, the publication of the faculty handbook and Annual Report of the Curriculum, as well as managing the Bates Honors Program.

The Executive Assistant to the Dean of the Faculty supports the Dean of the Faculty with the work of the office, acts as a communication liaison to academic departments, Bates senior leadership, and external guests, and coordinates and supports events hosted by the Dean of Faculty office. The executive assistant provides administrative support to the associate deans. The executive assistant also updates the Dean of Faculty website and handles the logistics of the Academic Affairs Council (AAC).

Alison coordinates and assists with implementation of student and faculty research grant programs (academic year and summer), maintains databases and tracks reporting for student grants and faculty development funds, provides support for various committees and programs, and works on College events such as the Mount David Summit, the Senior and Faculty Reception, and the Summer Research Poster Session during Back to Bates Weekend.

Lori provides support to the Dean of Faculty’s Office related to faculty. She provides administrative support for the faculty hiring process as well as for the Faculty Personnel Committee. This work includes entering and maintaining data in Banner.