Columbia College Dean To Step Down
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The dean of Columbia University’s largest undergraduate college, Columbia College, has announced that he will step down next year.
Austin Quigley, who has served as dean since 1995, will stay on at the college as a literature professor and adviser to the president. He will serve out another academic year as dean, making his tenure the second longest in the college’s history.
“Deciding when to move on from a position of responsibility is always a challenge,” he said in a statement sent to the college community yesterday. “But wisdom is on the side of doing so when things continue to go well, so that a successor will have the opportunity to steer that positive momentum toward new priorities.”
Columbia’s president, Lee Bollinger, praised Mr. Quigley’s accomplishments as dean in a separate e-mail to the university.
“Fourteen years is a remarkable tenure in any academic leadership role, and Austin has presided during an era of extraordinary transformation at the College,” Mr. Bollinger wrote.
