MOUNT VERNON — The acting dean of Colorado College will become the new dean at Cornell College on July 1.
Brenda Tooley, acting dean of the faculty at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, has been named Cornell’s dean of the college and vice president for academic affairs, the chief academic officer and second-ranking administrator at Cornell.
She will replace Dennis Moore, who is retiring. Moore has been Cornell’s dean since 1987. He came to Cornell from Beloit College, where he was a faculty member in the English department.
Colorado College is a private, liberal arts college that operates on the Block Plan, an academic calendar similar to Cornell’s One-Course-At-A-Time. Students study a single subject for a three-and-a-half-week term, with nine terms in Cornell’s school year.
Tooley is in her sixth year in the Colorado College dean’s office, including five years as associate dean. She came to Colorado College in 1991 as a faculty member in the English department after earning a doctorate from the University of Notre Dame. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fort Hays State University.
“Her familiarity with the Block Plan, with grant support, and generally her experience with most aspects of our dean’s responsibilities were all important to us,” said Jim White, Cornell philosophy professor and chair of the dean search committee.
Tooley was one of four candidates who interviewed on campus for the position following a national search that began last summer.
At Colorado College, Tooley’s responsibilities have included coordinating a new-faculty mentoring program and associated faculty development initiatives, such as support for department chairs and interdisciplinary program directors; leading the First Year Experience program; working with grants officers to prioritize and design major proposals; developing international studies and interdisciplinary programs; working with the institutional research staff to develop and manage assessment practices at the college; implementing a new general education curriculum; and coordinating a $7.9 million gift from the Priddy Trust to strengthen admissions practices in the Southwest and to support student success initiatives at the college.
