Michael Allen, the fourth candidate for the post of vice provost for international affairs to speak at the College of William and Mary, had originally prepared a presentation emphasizing how globalization is becoming increasingly local. But after spending two days interacting with students at the College, his vision quickly changed.

“The last thing I would want to do as vice provost of international affairs is come in here and tell you what you should be doing without learning anything about the College,” Allen said.

After spending some time on campus, Allen came to realize that the most crucial missing elements in the College’s internationalization effort are organization, cooperation and adequate funding. In spite of these problems, Allen said that people on campus truly love the College.

“The lack of funds has not led to the demoralization or pulling out of enterprise. I see this as an extremely positive sign and something that internationalization can help build on,” he said. “Because people love William and Mary so much, internationalism will be an enhancement not an add on to faculty and staff work.”

Allen traveled 28 hours from his job as assistant dean of arts and sciences at Zayed University in Dubai to interview for the position Feb. 15.

According to Allen, the world is becoming increasingly global, and even local actions have global repercussions. Additionally, Allen said that College students need to be globally competent, prepared and ready to engage with this expanding environment. Because of this, Allen hopes to help create a more international environment on campus by increasing the number of international students.

“Many William and Mary students will never be able to study abroad for one reason or another,” Allen said. “But if you create a globally competent campus with more international students, you can create that global environment. But that’s hard to do with the current 2 percent international student population.”

Allen said he hopes to develop this internationalizaton on campus through close collaboration with faculty and students.

“The strategies that will work best for William and Mary will come from efforts sustained by faculty who have a deep understanding of the global environment as well as of William and Mary,” he said. “These efforts make the most sense.”

According to Allen, such internationalization efforts would lead to a more globally-inclined student body with improved leadership skills.

“It seems to me that the knowledge of global competence is completely consistent with a liberal arts education,” Allen said.

After over 44 years of instruction, religious studies professor David Holmes will retire Feb. 22 — but not before giving students some advice.

In a lecture Monday, Holmes encouraged students to avoid leading a life of quiet desperation by following their hearts. Holmes and David Hein addressed other common concerns of students during their post-college years during the session, which was entitled “The Ten Years after College.”

“The five to ten years after college are the most important in a person’s life. It’s a time of discovery,” Holmes said. “There are too many conflicting ideas during undergraduate years for the real person to come about until later. Evidence indicates that we do not know who we are and what we want to do for our lives until we are 25, or even nearer to 30.”

Hein and Holmes both recalled the career paths they thought they would take at the age of 20. Hein studied to be a lawyer, while Holmes planned to be in advertising or hotel management.

“Students of America’s second oldest college … almost all of you have a life of unfulfilled options ahead. Now, fulfill the rest of these options with great care,” Holmes said. “Do what makes you lose track of time; be diligent with yourself.”

Holmes warned against becoming Sinclair Lewis’s character Babbitt, who married without love, and worked without passion. Instead, Holmes championed the examples of Madeline Albright and Condoleeza Rice as two women who did not find their political career paths until they were close to 30.

“Be prepared for failure — in college you are not being prepared for it, but you are going to,” Holmes said. “Keep in mind that there is no commandment saying you have to have a job immediately after college.”
It was only after he installed the third brake in Cadillacs and served in the military for two years that Holmes entered graduate school for religious studies.

Hein listed Montreal, Chicago, San Francisco, the Caribbean and Budapest as some places new graduates should consider visiting, or even living.

“When I look back on it, I probably should not have gone to graduate school in Chicago immediately after college,” Hein said.

Holmes was less willing to advocate living internationally at the moment.

“A cautionary word: Most countries are experiencing a recession, so don’t go somewhere you will just join the unemployment columns. Chicago is a good place, my favorite city,” Holmes said. “Becoming a bartender in Bermuda is not a license for play, but a license for exploration.”

In regard to love, Holmes did not have an ideal age at which someone should marry, but did offer one suggestion before becoming committed.

“Marry from a position of strength, not from weakness … weakness being loneliness, or being poor. Other than that, age doesn’t really matter,” he said.

The College of William and Mary libraries could soon be under new leadership.

In a message to the College community, College Provost Michael Halleran announced that administrators were beginning a search to fill the position of dean of university libraries. According to Halleran, candidates for the position will visit the College over the next several weeks to interview for the post and meet with members of the College community.

“Each one of them presents excellent credentials and backgrounds, and I am excited about their upcoming visits,” Halleran said in a press release. “The search committee has done great work in coming up with this list of finalists.”

Halleran said that, in addition to interviewing with the search committee, candidates would participate in public forums similar to those held for the new position of vice provost for international affairs. The first public forum will feature Steve Smith and be held in the Sadler Center Feb. 22. Smith will be followed by Suzy Palmer March 1 and Carrie Cooper March 3. The forums will conclude March 15 with John Buschman.
Members of the College community may comment on the candidates through Wm.edu/librarydeansearch. A College login and password are required to participate.

“I invite your comments, as they will be valuable to the President and me in selecting the next Dean of University Libraries,” Halleran said.

At the College of William and Mary’s Student Assembly meeting Tuesday, Sen. Michael Douglass ’11 sponsored a bill to create an informational website for students looking to rent in the Williamsburg area.

The bill, called the Rate My Rental Act, aims to create a website that allows students who have lived off campus to supply information about their rental experience. The bill calls for a competition between students for the contract to construct the website. The senate Public Affairs Committee will judge entrants based on a rubric including the cost of the website, the website’s ability to effectively protect privacy, manage content and moderate the time needed to establish the website and the entrant’s previous experience. The winner will receive up to $3,000 to build the website.

“This should provide information on the properties, the landlords, the neighborhoods and the facilities,” Douglass said.

The bill was tabled pending further research.

The senate passed Sen. Noah Kim’s ’13 Spending Transparency Act unanimously. This act charges the chair of the senate Finance Committee to detail the percentage of the consolidated reserve each spending bill will use.

The SA also discussed a survey on The Roots performance at the Charter Day concert, which revealed that most of the respondents enjoyed the show.

The student activities fee included in every student’s tuition may be increased slightly to accommodate funding for future large-scale Charter Day concerts.

The SA received about $15,000 in revenue from ticket sales.

The SA also discussed the possibility of raising ticket prices for students and non-students to generate more revenue from future shows, although AMP has previously stated its goal of keeping ticket prices below $10 for students to allow for greater student access to performances.

College of William and Mary Dean of Undergraduate Studies Sue Peterson announced her resignation, effective June 30 upon the completion of her second term.

In a campus announcement Feb. 16, Dean of Arts and Sciences Carl Strikwerda announced Peterson’s intention to return to teaching.

“This was never intended to be a career change for me,” Peterson said in an e-mail. “I’m a teacher and a scholar by training and temperament, and I’m looking forward to returning to my first loves.”

As she wraps up her final semester as dean of undergraduate studies, Peterson said she enjoyed her time as dean.

“[It’s] enormously rewarding to be able to help faculty get the resources they need to be great teachers and scholars and to help students deal with academic concerns and challenges,” Peterson said. “Second, I really love the people I work with — the other deans and the staff in the Dean’s Office, including the Office of Academic Advising and the Communications Office. Also the folks in the Registrar’s and the Dean of Students’ Offices. There are so many wonderful staff and administrators who work hard to support the students and faculty and make the College such a great place.”

Peterson will be returning to her post as a professor in the College’s government department.

“Since 2005, when I began working in the Dean’s Office, I’ve been able to teach only one class a year, so I am looking forward to getting back in the classroom full time,” she said.

Prior to resuming her post in the government department, Peterson said she is eager to resume work on research projects she began prior to her position as dean.

Among Peterson’s accomplishments are serving as chief transfer officer and contact dean for 11 departments.

Strikwerda announced a search committee to find the next dean of undergraduate studies. The committee will include three faculty members, one contact dean and one administrative staff member. The faculty members will come from all three areas of Arts and Sciences. Additionally, incoming interim Dean of Arts and Sciences Gene Tracy will be active in the hiring process.

A phone number listed on the back of some College of William and Mary student ID cards is incorrect.

Recently, a student reported to the ID office that the number listed for Student Legal Service’s, 757-253-4146, was incorrect. The number listed was that for the Commonwealth’s Attorneys Services Council, which assists local prosecutors throughout the state. The correct number for Student Legal Services is 757-221-3304.

The ID Office said it will correct this error for IDs printed in the future. A representative from the office did not respond to questions regarding how many IDs are affected and how the office plans to amend this issue.

The cost of replacing a lost student ID is $20, and it costs $5 to replace a stolen ID with a copy of the police report.