The responsibilities of the associate dean of the faculty are vast, but Griffiths, who will have to give up teaching while he serves as associate dean, is particularly excited about working with new faculty.
According to the associate dean portfolio, which describes the duties of the position, the associate dean of the faculty is responsible for running "monthly lunches on various topics of concern to new faculty," with the help of the assistant dean of the faculty. "[This is] one of the things that attracts me most about the job," said Griffiths.
Griffiths is enthusiastic about the position regardless of the changes that his career will undergo. "Above all, I plan to pitch in to help the new administration get started," he said.
Griffiths also recognizes the challenge that he now faces. "The current dean's office-[Dean of the Faculty] Lisa Raskin, [Associate Dean of the Faculty] Bob Hilborn and [Assistant Dean] Ann Burger-has done a remarkable job, and we are going to have to scramble to maintain the progress they have made," he said.
Other responsibilities of the office will include managing "half of the College's searches for tenure-track positions, [working] with the First-Year Seminar (FYS) Committee on recruiting faculty for the FYS program, [serving] as the Dean's liaison for renovation projects such as the renovation of Seelye Mudd and the upgrading of classrooms and representing the College at the Harvard Diversity Project meetings," said Hilborn.
One aspect of the position involves carefully examining the number of students taking introductory math and sciences classes and subsequently majoring in math and/or science and discussing these numbers with the dean of faculty.
This year, Hilborn worked with Dean of Students Ben Lieber to ensure that additional improvements were made to the Quantitative Skills Center.
According to the associate dean portfolio, a number of the responsibilities involve administrative duties. The associate dean must attend meetings with other administrators and provide administrative support through a number of venues, including a review of current grants and new proposals and attending meetings of the Board of Trustees.
A number of the responsibilities relegated to the associate dean of the faculty require seeking information from sources off campus. The associate dean works with the Doshisha Committee to improve faculty and study exchange between the College and Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.
The associate dean is also charged with "[surveying] five peer institutions on numbers and duties of associate deans and assistant deans," according to the portfolio.
Working with administrators at the other five colleges is also necessary, particularly for the Five College Minority Faculty Fellow Program.
The associate dean represents the College at meetings for the Mellon Retirement Program and at additional meetings discussions distributing research stipends and allocating sabbatical grants.
One additional responsibility is to represent the College at discussions with the editors of U.S. News and World Report regarding the college and university ranking reports, according to the Portfolio.
The College created the position three years ago, according to Hilborn. "Dean Raskin felt that the duties of the dean of the faculty had expanded significantly over the past five to six years and that the College would be better served if a faculty member would serve as associate dean of the faculty," said Hilborn. "After discussions with the Committee of Six and the president, the position was formally authorized in the spring of 2000."