Editor’s note: The following is a letter that was sent to Bowling Green State University President Rodney Rogers and Provost Joe Whitehead
Dear President Rogers and Provost Whitehead,
As Chairs/Directors in the College of Arts and Sciences, we write to express our appreciation and respect for Raymond Craig. Dean Craig has been a transformational leader. He brought the best of the humanities, arts, and sciences together, valuing creativity and innovation, critical thinking, clear communication, knowledge transfer, experimentation, and systematic evaluation and assessment. Dean Craig was demanding and rigorous, insisting that new initiatives be grounded in sound research and evidence. He was also committed to fostering the creativity of others and encouraging faculty and staff alike to take risks and try new things.
As Dean, Ray Craig is a compassionate and equity-minded leader who was spearheading evidence-based changes to the undergraduate curriculum; supporting twenty-first-century graduate education; collaboratively developing regional arts and humanities initiatives; supporting marginalized student populations; and improving recruitment, retention, and promotion of women and marginalized faculty. He was working on a host of initiatives for integrative learning, interdisciplinary scholarship, and public engagement programs. He valued the formation of leadership cadres among faculty and faculty administrators, supporting leadership training in national organizations that brought us to broader conversations with colleagues from a variety of settings.
We are immensely grateful for Dean Craig’s invaluable leadership and stewardship. The Dean mentored all Chairs/Directors, helping us to work together and develop leadership skills–to think strategically and compassionately. He modeled for us the imperative to create clear, consistent, transparent policies and practices so that opportunities would be spread widely. He also modeled kindness and consideration for others across ranks and appointments for College staff, faculty, unit administrators, and, most importantly, our students.
One example of his inclusive leadership was his handling of the Gish Theater renaming. Charged by President Rogers to lead a task force, Dean Craig modeled responsive, collaborative leadership. Dean Craig and the other task force members were present for and really listened to students, faculty, staff, and alumni. And now to the current moment–a time when, mirroring the national landscape, BGSU is reckoning with deep-seated systemic racial injustice–Dean Craig was building both large and small-scale intervention and advocacy initiatives. In his steering of the College during COVID, we were buoyed by the Dean’s presentness, transparency in decision making, his support of student, staff, and faculty wellbeing, and the clarity of a mind that valued preserving our mission as a public university in the midst of an unprecedented crisis.
We thank Raymond Craig for all he did to support BGSU students, faculty, staff, and administrators during his time as Dean of Arts and Sciences. Each of us carries the lessons we learned from him and by working with his staff in our own work in service of our students, our staff and faculty colleagues, and the public good.
We are disappointed and concerned that a high performing Dean who earned widespread praise and respect from faculty and staff across the College would be reassigned. Under the Dean’s leadership, the College was on an upward trajectory and consistently served as the model for colleges across the campus. It would appear that the university administration wishes to take the College in a different direction. However, this transition in campus leadership calls into question the university’s commitment to the core mission – the very same vision that guided Arts and Sciences under Dean Craig’s leadership. In framing criteria for the search for the next Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, we ask that BGSU’s administration honor
Dean Craig’s legacy by preserving and extending the mission and values he skillfully and compassionately modeled for us all.
Sincerely,
Juan Bouzat
Chair, Department of Biological Sciences
Susan Brown
Chair, Sociology
Amilcar Challú
Chair, History
Charles Kanwisher
Director, School of Art
Andrew Layden
Chair, Department of Physics & Astronomy
Jake Lee
Chair, Computer Sciences
Lesa Lockford
Chair, Department of Theatre and Film
Lee Nickoson
Chair, Department of English
Philip Peek
Chair, World Languages and Cultures
Susana Peña
Director, School of Cultural and Critical Studies
Kristen Rudisill
Director, Asian Studies Program
Marc Simon
Chair, Department of Political Science
Jeff Snyder
Director, School of Earth, Environment and Society
Laura Stafford
Director, School of Media and Communication
Carolyn Tompsett
Chair, Psychology Department
Michael Weber
Chair, Philosophy Department
