Dean Brian Rosenberg named new president of Macalester College

Dean of Faculty Brian Rosenberg will be leaving Lawrence to be the new president of Macalester Univeristy in St. Paul, MInnesota.
Jonathan Isaacson

Dean of Faculty Brian Rosenberg will be leaving Lawrence to be the new president of Macalester Univeristy in St. Paul, MInnesota.

Earlier this week, Brian Rosenberg, dean of students here at Lawrence, was announced as the 16th president of Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. Rosenberg will assume his duties at Macalester this coming August.At Macalester Rosenberg says he will face many of the same challenges that he faced at Lawrence. Notably, he explained that many colleges are being forced to maintain quality with reduced funds.

Rosenberg has been serving Lawrence since 1998 as Dean of Faculty and Professor of English. In his tenure at Lawrence, Rosenberg directed the university’s first change of general education requirements in 15 years.

Rosenberg, a Charles Dickens scholar, received his B.A. from Cornell University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Columbia University. He began his career as a professor in 1982 at Cooper Union in New York City before moving on to Allegheny College in 1983, where he remained until 1998.

Rosenberg chose to accept the job because it was “just such a terrific opportunity, both professionally and personally” that he felt it was time to make a change.

He wanted to work at a school with an environment similar to that of Lawrence. Both are small,private liberal arts schools.

Rosenberg also felt the location was ideal since it is near a major metropolitan area, but also not too far from Lawrence.

According to a press release from Macalester College, Rosenberg was selected after an extensive search. He will be following outgoing president Michael McPherson, who served Macalester for seven years, during which Macalester has been consistently high on lists of the best liberal arts colleges in America. It was ranked 26th in U.S. News and World Report for 2003.

Rosenberg said he will miss the people at Lawrence calling them “irreplaceable,” but he looks forward to forming relationships with the faculty of Macalester.

In a statement issued May 20, Lawrence president Rik Warch conveyed his regards for Rosenberg, saying that his general sentiment is one of excitement for Rosenberg and his family.

Warch also expressed his confidence that Rosenberg would serve Macalester “with the same level of excellence he has demonstrated at [Lawrence].”

Rosenberg noted that some of the personal achievements he was most proud of included starting a faculty mentoring program and hiring over one third of the faculty under his administration.

He said, “I tried to create a certain level of discourse that was open and civil when dealing with students, faculty, and staff.” He also feels he helped make Lawrence much better at institutional planning.

No successor for Rosenberg has been named or even significantly discussed at this point. Lawrence will either engage in an internal or national search. Both types have been used at Lawrence with previous deans. An interim dean may be appointed until the search can take place.

Rosenberg added, “I will always feel a strong connection to Lawrence. Lawrence and Macalester face off in the second football game of the season. I’ll have to remember which sideline to go to.