Associate Dean Barbara Green to Retire

To: The Caltech Community

From: Joseph E. Shepherd
Vice President for Student Affairs and C. L. "Kelly" Johnson Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering
 

Dr. Barbara Green, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Students, has announced that she will be retiring in the summer of 2018. Dean Green has been a vital and essential member of our community since she joined Caltech on September 1, 1989, after serving as Dean of Students at Whittier College from 1977 to 1989 and Assistant Dean of Students at Purdue University from 1974 to 1977. She has brought a thoughtful and kind manner to her work with students to help them overcome challenges and succeed at Caltech. Day in and day out, she has been tireless in her compassionate and patient engagement with our students, with their parents, and with faculty. Respected for her fairness and her personal approach, Dean Green has earned our students' trust and confidence as she has helped them navigate personal and academic challenges, large and small. Generations of students count her among the significant factors that have enabled them to achieve personal growth as well as academic success.

An esteemed and valued colleague in Student Affairs, Dean Green has also taken on very substantial administrative responsibilities. In her role as Associate Dean, she has worked with seven faculty deans. In 2003, Dean Green took on an additional responsibility as disability services coordinator for our graduate and undergraduate students. She had sole responsibility for the Undergraduate Deans' office in 2010-11 and served as interim dean during academic year 2015-16. She also has played a key role in welcoming our prospective and incoming students through her leadership of the freshman orientation program.

Dean Green has skillfully worked behind the scenes with faculty to assist in the development and support of academic programs that ensure student success. Along with pleasant tasks, such as determining how to spend discretionary funds on student-led activities, she has taken on such challenging responsibilities as working with students in crisis and serving on the Conduct Review Committee. Dean Green has been a passionate advocate for student engagement and personal growth, and has supported and provided valuable counsel to students in leadership positions. She has served as a key liaison to the undergraduate Board of Control, responsible for preserving academic integrity under the Honor Code system. In recognition of Dean Green's many contributions to the Caltech community, she was elected as an honorary member of the Caltech Alumni Association in 2000 and received the Thomas W. Schmitt Annual Staff Prize in 2013 (www.caltech.edu/schmittprize/2013).

Dean Kevin Gilmartin has been leading a national search for Dean Green's successor during this academic year. A hiring committee consisting of our faculty, students, and staff has been considering applicants and is currently interviewing candidates.

I want to extend my personal thanks and appreciation for Barbara's many contributions during her time at Caltech. We are planning a community event to celebrate her career, and the date for this will be announced later this spring.