Dear LMU Community:
I am pleased to announce the reappointment of Robbin D. Crabtree as dean of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (BCLA). Since she joined LMU on August 1, 2014, as BCLA dean and professor of women’s and gender studies, Dean Crabtree’s bold and thoughtful leadership has greatly benefited the college and the university, and I look forward to our continued work together during her next term.
During her first five years as dean, BCLA has increased its commitment to academic excellence through a variety of initiatives, including: the implementation of the new Core Curriculum across liberal arts disciplines; conversion to a 4-unit curricular model focused on intellectual depth and engaged pedagogies; and the completion of academic program reviews for each of the degrees offered in the college. Dean Crabtree’s emphasis has been on supporting LMU students for high-impact learning experiences, particularly through BCLA’s global immersion, career pathways, student-faculty research, and community-engaged learning initiatives. Under Dean Crabtree’s leadership, the college also developed a comprehensive advising center that has made significant enhancements to student academic planning, more support for undeclared and transfer students, improved college retention and graduation rates, and a better overall academic experience for students in BCLA.
Dean Crabtree has advanced the college’s commitment to interdisciplinarity through, for example, a team-teaching initiative that supports faculty curricular and pedagogical innovation, and partnering with the other schools and colleges on interdisciplinary components for BCLA’s new degree programs in international relations, environmental studies, and journalism, and new minor programs in peace and justice studies, health and society, and bioethics. BCLA graduate programs continue to be characterized by rigorous academic experiences for their students with strong outcomes for their graduates in prestigious academic placements and varied professional pathways. The re-imagination of the Bellarmine Forum has brought students more fully into engagement with the annual theme and continues to create impactful interdisciplinary connections across the schools and colleges, and with LMU’s institutes, centers, libraries, and galleries.
Dean Crabtree has been committed to fostering a new culture of shared governance in BCLA. This resulted in BCLA’s first bylaws and governance statement and the launch of its College Council and various committees, all of which function closely and collaboratively with the effective professional team of faculty associate deans and staff in the BCLA Dean’s Office. A believer in the teacher-scholar model, Dean Crabtree has hired 35 tenure-line faculty members, comprising nearly 25% of the current tenure-line faculty in BCLA. She worked with department chairs and search committees to hire world-class researchers who are dedicated teachers and devoted to our mission. These colleagues have significantly improved BCLA’s gender, ethnic, and racial diversity. Through strategic resource management, she also increased full-time instructional positions in BCLA, and significantly reduced the over-reliance on part-time instruction. Creation of an Ignatian-pedagogy inspired post-doc Teaching Fellows Program is one component of these efforts. Based on her longstanding interest in faculty development, Dean Crabtree has implemented a variety of initiatives to support whole-career satisfaction and success of BCLA faculty and the cultivation of future academic leaders, efforts for which she is well known across the country.
In addition to her work in BCLA, Dean Crabtree has provided outstanding leadership at the university level through her participation on the Deans Council and Provost’s Planning Council, and on task forces related to gender equity, faculty housing, internationalization, data governance, and the institutional Examen. She co-chaired the University Persistence Committee and School of Education dean search. Dean Crabtree also contributed significantly to the successful application to shelter a chapter of The Phi Beta Kappa Society at LMU, and recently was inducted as a Foundation Member.
In all of this, Dean Crabtree has been an indefatigable champion, internally and externally, for the inherent, enduring, and practical value of the liberal arts and for the distinctiveness of a liberal education in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions. She has presented on these topics with national organizations such as the Association of American Colleges & Universities, the American Council of Academic Deans, the Council of Colleges of Arts and Sciences, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, and the National Communication Association, and speaks regularly on campuses and for community organizations around the country. Dean Crabtree’s talk, “Mission, Diversity, and Companionship: With & Without Limits” was featured on the plenary program at Fordham University’s Conference on Ignatian Humanism and the Case for Diversity. Her recent publications include “From classroom to career: Articulating and operationalizing the Liberal Arts advantage for the career readiness of college students,” which appeared in the International Journal of Arts and Sciences and “International service-learning: Guiding theories and practices for social Justice” in the International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice.
Personally, I am grateful to Robbin for helping to familiarize me with the culture at LMU, providing me with ample opportunities to experience the dynamic and amazing work of BCLA students, faculty, and staff, and inviting me time and again to the ever legendary BCLA Christmas parties. Most importantly, Robbin has modeled for me, through her leadership, creativity, and counsel, how to integrate the LMU Mission into my decision-making processes.
Please join me in congratulating Dean Crabtree on her many successes, thanking her for the leadership she has already provided, and for her willingness to continue serving in this important role at Loyola Marymount University.
Sincerely,
Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost
