The Executive Board of Erasmus University Rotterdam has appointed Prof. Dr. D.C. (Dymph) van den Boom as interim Dean of the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC) effective from 1 March 2018. She is the successor of Prof.Dr. Dick Douwes, whose term of appointment as Dean will end on that date after 12 years.
Prof. Dymph van den Boom, former Rector Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam, has been appointed for a period of 18 months. She succeeds Prof.Dr. Dick Douwes, who has been Dean of ESHCC since 2006. In addition to leading and managing the faculty, the Executive Board has asked Prof. Dr. Van den Boom to also prepare a plan, in close consultation with the faculty community, faculty council and faculty management, which will contain recommendations on how to strengthen the faculty.
Under the leadership of the current Dean, much work has been undertaken these last years to improve the faculty’s robustness and sustainability. The ESHCC has evolved into a front-runner in the field of internationalisation with an attractive and varied portfolio of bachelor and master degree programmes. Fruitful steps have also been taken to enhance the quality of education, which is apparent from the high rankings of the various degree programmes, the favourable assessments of external review panels, and the positive results of students. The Executive Board is highly appreciative of the collective effort made to date and is pleased to conclude that ESHCC has developed into an innovative and energetic faculty.
However, the faculty also faces several challenges, which call for a sustainable solution. Among other things, the size of ESHCC’s support staff is relatively small, which makes it susceptible to high work load pressures.
Plan for the future
The Executive Board therefore has decided to appoint an interim Dean who will develop a plan towards making the faculty more robust. This plan will be prepared in close cooperation with the faculty community, the faculty council and the management of the faculty. The recruitment of a regular Dean will commence once a clear vision of the development path of the faculty has been formulated.
Professor Van den Boom is a highly experienced director and governor with a background in social sciences. She has a multidisciplinary orientation with a personality capable of building bridges and bringing people together within the organisation.
The profile and selection criteria for the interim Dean have been established in cooperation with the Faculty Council and the Management Team.
About Dymph van den Boom
Prof. Dr. Dymph van den Boom (1951) was Rector Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and a member of the Executive Board of the UvA-HvA from 1 October 2007 to 31 May 2016. She served as Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the UvA in the period 2001-2007.
Van den Boom began her scholarly career as a Developmental Psychologist at Leiden University, where she received her Doctorate (Psychology) in 1988. In 1996, she was appointed Professor of Educational Theory at the UvA’s faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. Between 1997 and 2001, she served successively as Head of the Department of Child Development and Education and Vice-Dean of the same faculty.
She will continue in her position as professor of Educational Theory at the UvA whilst being interim Dean of the ESHCC.
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