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Comments Sought for Regular Review of Dean Jo Rae Wright

Graduate School dean is in fourth year of five-year term

By Duke Today Staff

A committee conducting a regular review of Dean Jo Rae Wright of the Graduate School is looking for comments about her performance from members of the Duke community.

In accordance with Appendix C of the Faculty Handbook, the deans of the professional schools are to be reviewed in the fourth year of their initial appointment.  

Wright is in the fourth year of her deanship, and the Academic Council, in consultation with Provost Peter Lange, has appointed a review committee chaired by Ann Marie Pendergast, James B. Duke Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology.

Other members of the review committee are: Elizabeth Clark, Department of Religion, Ken Land, Department of Sociology, and Monty Reichert, Pratt School of Engineering. The provost has requested a final written report from the committee by March 15, 2010.

As part of that review, the committee invites members of the Duke community to send it comments on any or all of the following matters, or on any other matters that would be pertinent to our review.

Responses may be sent by email to susan.booth@duke.edu. If individuals would like to convey their thoughts in person, they may contact the committee chair to arrange a meeting. All responses will be kept confidential. No comments or observations will be attributed to any individual in any report of the committee. The committee would appreciate receiving comments by Dec. 18.

Below are the types of questions that the committee will address. Any other comments that might also be useful to the committee in conducting its review are welcome.

  • Has Dean Wright been an effective leader of the Graduate School?
  • What are her strengths and weaknesses as dean?
  • Does Dean Wright communicate effectively with faculty? Students? Staff?
  • Do you have a sense of Dean Wright's vision for the Graduate School?
  • How would you characterize her intellectual and academic leadership? Has this been effective for the Graduate School?
  • How would you characterize her budgetary and administrative leadership? Has this been an effective style for the Graduate School?
  • What should Dean Wright do to improve the Graduate School?