Eugene Lang College appointed a new interim dean, Jennifer Wilson, on Oct. 1. Wilson has worked at The New School since 2003 as a mathematics professor and was also Lang’s Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs.

Her appointment followed a series of administrative shifts, including Provost Tim Marshall’s resignation, who will be returning to his home country, Australia. Lang’s former dean, Stephanie Browner, assumed the role of interim Provost for the university and asked Wilson to be dean.

Wilson grew up in Vancouver, Canada and moved to the U.S. for graduate work at Princeton. She is a practicing mathematician and was formerly the Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Wilson’s research is focused on mathematics applied to social sciences, game theory, and she is interested in the intersection of visual arts and mathematics.

The New School Free Press sat down over Zoom with Dean Wilson and spoke about this new shift in administrative roles, her plans as interim dean, and her response to the university-wide firing of 122 staff and faculty last on Oct.2.  

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. It was conducted via Zoom on Oct. 2, 2020 by reporter Elia Griffin.

1.How has the transition been, from math professor to Lang’s interim dean, especially during such unprecedented times?

It’s obviously been tricky. I’ve been at Lang a long time, so I’ve sort of seen it change over many years. When I first came, Lang was something like 600 students,, and now it’s 1800. So it’s so much bigger, the number of programs we have has grown, as has a number of co-curricular things. And so I’ve gotten to know it in different ways over the years. Most recently, I’ve been Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs at Lang. That’s a role where I continue to do a little bit of teaching, but I work with Stephanie Browner, and others in the Lang dean’s office, to think more broadly about the college. That particular role is really concerned with faculty, and both helping faculty in their role as teachers and as researchers — also working with the dean’s office to provide a kind of faculty and curriculum perspective to the different activities of the college. So that’s given me a broader vision of the college than I would have had just teaching in my department. 

2.Could you give an example of some courses that you’ve taught or created?

Right now I am teaching a ULEC class. It’s called Unfair representation: Gerrymandering & The Political Process. I do work in voting systems and decision making systems. And so what this course is about, it’s a little bit about how mathematicians think about mechanisms for making decisions. How do we vote? How do we structure our representation? And one of the themes is about gerrymandering, this ability to draw congressional districts in such a way you can kind of rig the outcome for one party or the other. We’re following the election, there’s so much to talk about.

3. How has your background as a professor prepared you for this type of role as interim dean at Lang?

I think I’ve seen a wide variety of programs and curricula and the kinds of courses that students go through and the kinds of career paths that our students want to take. And that certainly helped me because I think one of the really important things about being a dean is that you are kind of representing the culture and the ethos and the educational mission of the college. You’re sort of representing it to the university as a whole, but also to the broader community, to parents, to possible funders, and so on. And so, really understanding that deeply, is part of the job.

4.What do you hope to accomplish as the interim dean?

The first thing is to make sure that we continue to do the online learning as well as we can. This is a very unusual semester, obviously, and it’s likely that at least some components of this online world will stick with us through spring. I don’t imagine we’re going to suddenly all be on campus, you know, in February, because we’re not likely to have a vaccine and all of that. So I want to make sure that we continue to do things well for the students. And I also want to make sure that we learn so that we get better at it. 

5.Do you have any specific plans yet, or intentions, while you take this temporary role?

One is to continue the work of the social justice committee. So that is a committee that’s been working for the last year or so on a lot of different projects, some of them are student-facing, which has to do with making sure that we continue our anti-bias work in the classroom, and that we teach classes in a way that allows everyone to learn successfully. Also, to make sure that we conduct ourselves as an institution that is true to the values that we have. So that’s one of the things the committee has been working on for a year or so. 

One of the things that happened over the summer, is that the dean and Natalie Gross, who’s our Director of Civic Engagement and Social Justice, co-moderated an all Lang anti-oppression meeting over the summer. It was an opportunity for Lang faculty and staff to really think about their goals and how they want to address these issues going forward. One of the tasks for this fall is to look at some of the goals that were discussed in the summer meeting and try to start implementing them.

6.Could you explain, in your own words, the role of the dean or interim dean? I think sometimes students can hear these words, and they know that they are important people, but they don’t necessarily understand the full role.

On one hand, the dean’s office is in charge with making sure that the courses in the curriculum run smoothly, and that departments have the resources they need, and the support they need to run their programs, to be able to bring in guest speakers to do all the events we have, and so on. So, some of it is about just making sure that the college continues.

I think for many students, the dean is kind of an invisible figure in some ways. They know there’s a person there with a name and a title attached, but they are more likely to see their faculty members and their advisors as people they can reach out to. But I think students should feel like they can always reach out to the dean if they have large questions, or just concerns about the things that they think should be addressed or that aren’t working.

7.How long do you think you will be the interim dean? And when should students expect to have a new dean appointed?

So, right now my appointment is only through to December. Then trying to figure out what should and will happen moving forward is something that Stephanie Browner will do in her new role as interim provost. Normally it’s the provost who makes a decision about, or helps and gives input into the selection of deans.

8.What has been one of the biggest changes or a big challenge, because of the COVID?

I think maybe the difficulty in building community. I think faculty feel it at the course level, you know, wanting to be really be close to their students and making sure everyone feels a part of the classroom community. And then I think sort of larger among the Lang faculty and staff and all of us who are part of it, trying to find ways to feel like we’re a community when we’re all in our separate Zoom boxes. I miss walking down the hall and running into people. Now I don’t see them unless I make an appointment.

I miss our building. I mean, yes, it had its flaws. There were some classrooms that were old and could use redoing, but I miss our physical space. I miss the reading room, the spaces that we all shared.

The day the Free Press spoke with interim Dean Wilson, was also the same day the university fired 122 staff. 

9. So we asked on our Instagram, if some followers had any questions for you, and someone sent in a question. They asked: Will you continue the tradition of working with and respecting labor at The New School?

Yes, this is a hard time we are going through. As much as I can. These are difficult decisions that are being made at lots of different levels. But, one thing that The New School has always tried to do — it doesn’t always live up to all of the things that it tries to do —  but to listen to all voices and to respect the practices of labor, labor unions and workers.

10. The Free Press received a few comments on social media, just about everything that’s been going on. What is your reaction to the 122 firings happening today?

Yes, it’s really hard. It’s a really hard time and it’s been very stressful for the whole community. So I feel really bad for the staff who are leaving us and for the staff and all of us who were staying around, it’s hard. It’s a hard day.

11. Some students were commenting on our social media posts and so I thought it would be important to communicate that to you. They were wondering why they would still have to pay full tuition when these cuts are occurring, and then why the president didn’t take a salary cut. Could you give the reasoning behind what has been going on in response to that?

I don’t recall the salary cuts, so I can’t comment. Certainly the upper administration took salary cuts, most faculty, anyone making over $75,000 took salary cuts. There’s always arguments for: Was this the right amount? Could more have been done? I think people have different opinions about this. 

Part of the financial burden that the university is facing, it’s a combination of things. We have slightly fewer students, and we have a number of students who choose to defer, or many students went part time, because they’re concerned about learning online, and so on. Many students are taking advantage of the fact that we’re going to be offering courses for three semesters and that students will be able to do that, basically, for the cost of two semesters. So the university is trying to support students that way. Even if the tuition is full tuition, they’re trying to find other ways to support students. As a whole, the financial difficulties are partly the smaller number of students. It’s partly the fact that there’s no one living in the dorms. You know, we’re having to keep those buildings open. And yet we’re not using them. So those are some of the reasons why there is still such a large financial hole that needs to be filled.

I think the university is trying to really make sure that they are financially stable for the future. We’re all aware that there’s an economic downturn in this country, and it’s going to be increasingly hard for people to be able to afford college, and certainly a college like The New School. So trying to figure out a way that the university can be viable and continue to give financial support to students where it can, you know, it was really going to be important.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. It was conducted via Zoom on Oct. 2, 2020 by reporter Elia Griffin.