Appointments in Yale College Announced

New Haven, Conn. — Yale College Dean Peter Salovey has announced the appointments of the Dean of Student Affairs, Assistant Dean and Director of the Native American Cultural Center, and Deans of Branford, Calhoun and Morse residential colleges. The deans of the residential colleges were appointed in consultation with the masters of those colleges.

Dean of Student Affairs

W. Marichal Gentry has been named Dean of Student Affairs and Associate Dean of Yale College.

“Coming to us after eight years of positions of increasing responsibility at Middlebury College, Marichal brings to Yale an exemplary record of commitment to the highest standards in student affairs administration,” Salovey said.

Gentry’s experience as Associate Dean of Student Affairs and as Associate Dean of the College at Middlebury involved many different assignments, including serving as the College’s chief judicial affairs officer, providing leadership for the development of residential programming and serving as a member of the Human Relations Committee. He was deeply engaged with the advancement of Middlebury’s diversity initiative through service as Acting Dean of the Office for Institutional Diversity, as adviser to student groups and through the development of initiatives such as a symposium for campus leadership.

Gentry holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of the South (Sewanee), and an M.S.W. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. After beginning his career with administrative positions in admissions at Sewanee and in residential life at UNC, he served as a social worker at the Duke University Medical Center, counseling young people and their families in moments of crisis. He then went on to become a dean at Middlebury.

Assistant Dean and Director of the Native American Cultural Center

Shelly C. Lowe has been appointed the first Assistant Dean and Director of the Native American Cultural Center in Yale College. Lowe is completing her doctorate at the University of Arizona’s Center for the Study of Higher Education. Her program of study emphasizes American Indian college student development and achievement. She received her undergraduate education in Sociology and American Indian Studies at the University of Arizona and her M.A. in American Indian Studies and a Graduate Certificate in College Teaching.

For the past six years, Lowe has been the Facilitator of the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona. She served as academic adviser for the undergraduate students in that program, and coordinated many aspects of admissions, financial aid, curriculum development, special event planning and alumni relations.

“Her students and colleagues describe her deep commitment to Native American students and their education and her broad knowledge of Native American communities throughout the country,” Salovey said.

Lowe has published research on the use of campus services by Native American students and is a member of the research team conducting the Gathering of Voices Project sponsored by the National Institute of Native Leaders in Higher Education. She serves on the Board of Directors of the National Museum of the American Indian and was Vice President of the National Indian Education Association.

Dean of Branford College

Daniel Tauss has been named the Dean of Branford College. Tauss earned his B.A. in Religious Studies at Yale, where he was a member of Branford College and served as a freshman counselor for the Class of 1997. He earned the M.A. in Asian Studies and Comparative Philosophy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the M. Phil. in Chinese History at the University of Cambridge, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Politics and International Relations at the University of Southern California. His research interests range from Asian security and democratic peace theory to comparisons of Eastern and Western thought, particularly with respect to political philosophy, ethics, and aesthetics.

As Area Director of the International Residential College at the Parkside campus of the University of Southern California, Tauss was responsible for a population of nearly 700 students and supervised a full-time assistant, a graduate staff of five, and 22 resident advisors. He previously served as coordinator of the Faculty-in-Residence program at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

“To both positions he brought his conviction that a diverse and engaging residential environment can complement and enhance a student’s in-class education better than any other single aspect of college life,” Salovey said.

Tauss has taught philosophy to first-year students at the University of Hawaii and both political science and international relations to students at USC. At Stony Brook he taught a Students Affairs course designed to introduce first-year and transfer students to elements of university life, including study skills, use of campus resources, diversity awareness, and health concerns. Most recently, he served as lead instructor of USC’s educational counseling course, which focuses on peer counseling, student leadership and development theory, and is a prerequisite for students who plan to apply for the position of resident advisor.

Dean of Calhoun College

Leslie Woodard has been named Dean of Calhoun College. Woodard earned a B.A. in Literature and Writing at Columbia University and an M.A. in Creative Writing at New York University. She has published a number of articles and short stories in magazines and has had her work anthologized in “Streetlights: Tales of the Urban Black Experience” and in “Men We Cherish: African American Women Praise the Men in Their Lives.” Her short story collection “The Silver Crescent” was published last year and she is currently at work on a novel that is loosely drawn from her decade-long experience as a professional dancer with the Dance Theater of Harlem.

Currently Director of Undergraduate Creative Writing at Columbia University, Woodard has administered a faculty of 32 adjuncts with whom she taught nearly 1,000 students each academic year. She also coordinated the program’s student groups, readings and other activities, and served as adviser to its student-produced literary magazine. As Director of Undergraduate Studies for approximately 250 undergraduates enrolled in the Columbia College Writing Program, she has advised students on academic and personal matters, maintained their educational and career files, and hired and counseled faculty on issues related to syllabi development and student advising. As a teacher of writing, Woodard has taught an introductory course on poetry, prose poetry, drama, and fiction, and intermediate and advanced fiction workshops. She has led the undergraduate senior honors seminar in which students produce book-length works of fiction and literary nonfiction, and she worked with some ten students each term on independent projects ranging from collections of poetry and short fiction to novels, plays and screenplays.

“In her various activities as a teacher, adviser, and administrator, Ms. Woodard has won the praise and respect of her students and her colleagues as someone who seeks the success of her students in all their pursuits,” Salovey said.

Dean of Morse College

Joel Silverman has been appointed Dean of Morse College. Silverman earned his B.A. in English from Cornell University, and his M.A. and Ph.D., both in American Studies, from the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include rhetoric and its relation to a variety of issues and topics, including socio-cultural reform; masculinity; biography and autobiography; and the law.

Currently an instructor of writing in Yale College and in the School of Management, Silverman has taught non-native graduate students in Yale’s English Language Institute and adult professionals in the New Dimensions Program at Albertus Magnus College. Among the other courses he has taught are American History Since 1945, The Rhetoric of American Paranoia, and Obscene America: Free Speech and Censorship. His English 114 students have praised his ability to challenge and encourage them at the same time; to engage with them both as a highly effective teacher of writing and as a fellow member of the campus community. A native of Connecticut, Silverman has studied at the University of Seville and worked in Madrid as a translator. He is currently working on a biography of Morris Ernst, the civil liberties attorney who successfully defended “Ulysses” against obscenity charges.

“In his dedication to the one-on-one interactions that characterize the work of deans as well as writing teachers, he brings to his new position at Yale a genuine interest in providing advising support to the community of students that constitute Morse College,” Salovey said.