Mead admits that she has a lot to learn about the College community and the surrounding areas but is excited to work with the current staff and faculty.
Fundamentally, she sees community service as a way for all people to find "meaning and to make a positive impact on the world." For her, the challenge lies in finding out how to inspire people to channel this desire to do good in ways that benefit the local community, explaining that everyone has a passion for helping in their own way.
"I need to learn more about the students and identify what those passions are," she said. "I also need to find ways to make a compelling case to every student, to let each student know that he or she is needed."
The search for a director for the CCE took almost a year, beginning last summer with the formation of a committee of members of the faculty, staff and students. Rhonda Cobham-Sander, Professor of English and Black Studies, chaired the committee. She is one of three professors who regularly teaches one of the College's most established service learning-based courses, Reading, Writing, and Teaching.
Mead likes the idea of creating more service learning-based courses, having taught several herself. But she is also looking for other ways to connect students' academic lives through their sense of social responsibility. Some suggestions include classics courses that apply a philosophy of civic duty from antiquity to modern dilemmas or English courses that read literature based on the idea of community.
"She really helped us think of new ways [in which] community involvement could be incorporated in the classroom," said Cobham-Sander.
Mead must prove that community engagement can correspond with and not detract from the intellectual purpose and environment of the College. She aims to "link students' community work with their academic work," as well as to increase the number of students involved in service and build more long-term partnerships with community organizations.
According to Cobham-Sander, Mead was selected over at least 200 other candidates. The selection process took longer than the committee initially anticipated. They had originally planned to select the director by Christmas, but Mead's appointment was not made official until March. Searching for the most qualified individuals added to the challenge.
"The kind of person you want is probably not looking for a job," said Cobham-Sander. She heard about Mead and her work through other sources. Mead was reticent to seek the job until President Tony Marx personally called her and asked her to apply.
The final candidates for the position underwent an arduous application process that included several rounds of interviews and a day-long visit to the school. Mead particularly distinguished herself in one interview in which the committee asked the candidate to take charge and lead the interview. Her ability to command the attention of the entire committee indicated her ability to engage all of the diverse groups with which she would be working at the new center.
"Once she took charge," said Cobham-Sander, "she was in charge."
During the visit to the school, candidates met with faculty, staff and students, giving the College community a chance to interact with them and get involved in the selection process. Mead appreciated the day as a chance to meet the community and to see the consultation and thought that goes into making decisions at the College.
Although the two other final candidates had supporters, Cobham-Sander says that the committee unanimously chose Mead.
Mead has high hopes for the future of community involvement at the College. "My goal is that in five years Amherst is on a shortlist of the best colleges in the country at involving students in thoughtful, effective service and that Amherst alumni are sought out for leadership positions in public service both in this country and around the world," she said.