Courtesy of Connecticut College
For each of the past four years, Connecticut College has had a different dean of the Division of Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Following Professor Ari Rotramel’s brief tenure as interim Dean of DEI, Rodmon King joined the Conn community in January 2022. King served as Dean of DEI until his sudden resignation in February 2023 due to irreconcilable differences between him and former president Katherine Bergeron, among other reasons also stated in his community-circulated letter of resignation. Then, Professor of Psychology Nakia Hamlett stepped in as interim Dean of DEI and served for the 2023-2024 academic year. She stepped down in May, returning to her faculty position and making way for new interim Dean of DEI, Erika Smith.
According to a May 16 email from former interim president Les Wong, this summer, Hamlett will “continue to coordinate the campus dialogue project and the next steps in the Presidential Task Force process.” During her 15 months as Dean of DEI, Hamlett’s collaborations led to the creation of “new spaces for the Muslim Student Association, International Student Association, Disability Advocacy Cultural Center and key DEI offices and staff.” Additionally, Hamlett facilitated the revitalization of the Agnes Gund ‘60 Dialogue Project and the connection between Conn and Mediators Beyond Borders International, a professional mediation program that will continue in the fall.
The current “healthy microclimate of the DEI,” as described by Wong, will experience a shift as Dean of the College Erika Smith steps in as the new interim Dean of DEI. Wong’s June 28 email announced Smith’s assumption of the new role in DEI, effective immediately. Smith will continue her role as Dean of the College in addition to serving as interim Dean of DEI. She admitted, “There are several vacancies and interim roles in senior administration, including [Dean of DEI].” Nevertheless, “building [a] team is a top priority for [new Conn] President Chapdelaine…She is moving forward thoughtfully and with the best interests of the students and the College in mind.”
Smith joined the Conn community in 2021 after working at Brandeis University for 21 years, where among other roles she served as Dean of Academic Services. As Conn’s Dean of the College for the past four years, Smith has overseen and advocated for the development of the Connections curriculum, the Academic Resource Center, the Hale Center for Career Development, study away programs, and academic fellowships and scholarships, in collaboration with the Walter Commons. Smith described her years at the College so far as “wonderful” and emphasized the “fantastic community.”
In her new role as interim dean of DEI, Smith “will continue to strategically address campus culture and climate issues and partner with the president’s office, senior administration, the Dean of the Faculty, Dean of the College and Dean of Students divisions and the Office of Advancement to address the needs of students from various backgrounds and cultural identities,” as specified in Wong’s email. While her Dean of the College duties fall mainly under the umbrella of academics, Smith will now be responsible for maintaining the College’s principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of the community. “I am happy to be able to support the transition as we welcome President Chapdelaine, and to have the privilege to work closely with such a talented and caring divisional team of colleagues,” Smith expressed. “I am also grateful to be trusted to do this important work at Conn,” she continued.
As an avid vipassana meditator and current volunteer president of her meditation center’s board, Smith knows a thing or two about balance. When asked how she plans to balance her two administrative roles, Smith cited past experiences in which she balanced full-time jobs while completing both her Master’s and Doctoral Degrees. She also became a mother at the beginning of her first dean role at Brandeis. Smith is confident that, in collaboration with her two divisions of staff, other senior administrators, and the campus community, she will strike a productive balance between her roles.
Having completed “a quantitative policy study of federal Educational Training Vouchers for young people in foster care across 8 states and the District of Columbia” for her PhD, Smith is well-versed in educational equity. She worked with the Posse Foundation before she spent 12 years leading the Myra Kraft Transitional Year Program (now the Myra Kraft Achievers Program) at Brandeis, a first-year bridge program for underrepresented students. Under her leadership, the program received its largest donation in history of $5 million. Smith’s work with the Myra Kraft program was “celebrated with a technology fund donated and named in [her] honor.”
Conn students have proven the importance of activism by occupying Fanning Hall, an academic building on campus, four times in the College’s history out of protest for a more inclusive future. Rising tensions on (and beyond) college campuses across the country, as well as threats to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts as a whole, mean that Smith’s work as Dean of DEI is especially urgent. “One of the most important things to remember about this work is that no one does it alone,” stated Smith. She will rely on the strong Conn community to propel the work that needs to get done. “Dean Hamlett, outstanding student leaders, and so many others at Conn have built strong foundational structures that will help us through the tensions and challenges we will face together,” claimed Smith. “My hope is that we manage to have a lot of joy together, too!”
