Professor David Gordon Wilson has been named the interim director of the Office of Minority Education (OME). The announcement was made by Arthur Smith, dean for undergraduate education and student affairs.
Professor Wilson, who retired from the Department of Mechanical Engineering on July 1, will serve until a new director is appointed. Dean Judy Jackson, the previous director, resigned the position as of September 1 to enroll in a doctoral program in education at Harvard. Professor Wilson has been associated with OME in a variety of ways in the past, and his appointment has been received with enthusiasm by many of the students who are served by the office.
"I am very glad that David accepted this position," Dean Smith said in a letter to faculty members last week. "He will bring his long experience at MIT and his demonstrated concern for students as he helps to fill the gap left by Dean Jackson's departure. The programs that OME provides are extremely valuable to students and this appointment should assure that they continue without loss of quality."
A search committee chaired by Professor Rafael Bras, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been formed to advise Dean Smith on the selection of a new director. Committee members are Isaac Colbert, associate dean of the Graduate School; Zaragoza Guerra of the Admissions Office; Professor Daniel Hastings of aeronautics and astronautics; Dean Arnold Henderson of UESA's counseling and support services; Ann Davis Shaw of the Office of Career Services; Ted Hill, a senior in political science; Luis Rodriguez, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science; and Brian White Eagle, a sophomore in EECS. Two other undergraduate members are to be selected.
The committee will hold a meeting to receive community input on September 21 at 7pm in Rm 2-105.
A version of this article appeared in the September 14, 1994 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 39, Number 4).