A Smooth Transition from Dean Bartoli to Dean Avruch
A change as important as a shift in leadership must be acknowledged. Since the beginning of summer until October 1, our School witnessed the resignation of our Dean, Dr. Andrea Bartoli, briefly replaced by an actively engaged Interim Dean, Solon Simmons, followed by an early fall semester internal Dean search process, and a final selection of our new Dean, Professor Kevin Avruch. Concurrently, we packed and moved—from our primary location on three floors in the Truland building to a half-wing on the 5th floor of the Metropolitan building (albeit right next door). One could reasonably speculate these significant changes in such a short period of time would be chaotic and lead to conflict, but they did not. Congratulations are in order, especially to our leaders, for this remarkably smooth transition.
A special acknowledgement goes to our outgoing Dean, Dr. Andrea Bartoli, who brought a substantial set of opportunities to our community as an internationally engaged scholar practitioner. Andrea came to the US from Italy in 1992 as an anthropologist (University of Milan, PhD; University of Rome, BA, MA), following his active role in the successful peace process in Mozambique. In 2003 he launched a decade-long initiative—with the support of the governments of Switzerland, Argentina and Tanzania—to involve more than 130 countries, the UN, and many regional and sub-regional organizations in a worldwide genocide prevention initiative. It became clear to him that being active in American higher education gave him another platform to do his international work and in 1997 he founded and led the Center for International Conflict Resolution at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia. Fast-forward to 2007, when we snagged him as the Drucie French Cumbie Chair and two years later as ICAR Director. He then led the transition for us from an Institute (ICAR) to a School (S-CAR), became the first Dean (2011) and expanded the growth and development of our multi-program Commonwealth Center of Excellence—the undergraduate, certificate, master and doctoral academic programs. He mentored faculty and students; co-published Peacemaking: From Practice to Theory— two volumes with colleagues and students in and outside of S-CAR. In his new position as Dean of Seton Hall’s Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Andrea will continue his professional work he was actively engaged in while at S-CAR as Senior Vice President and Permanent representative of the Community of Sant’ Egidio. That move rightly places him within the Catholic mission of Seton Hall and provides him access to their School’s unique alliance with the UN System whereby he can also continue his “diplomacy at work.” We deeply thank him for his commitment to our growth and development, and look forward to forging new partnerships between our two Schools. Following Andrea’s departure, Dr. Solon Simmons willingly stepped in as our Interim Dean. In just a few months he positioned our School well within the new strategic visioning process of the also new central administrative team at Mason. Working closely with the Dean’s office staff we already have a solid draft of S-CAR’s translation of the Mason vision to the work we intend to do over the next ten years (no small feat). A special thank you to Solon for working “24/7” through the summer and early fall. 
Now, a special welcome and congratulations is in order to Professor Kevin Avruch, our 11th “leader” of S-CAR since its inception in 1982. Also an anthropologist (University of Chicago, AB; University of California San Diego, MA, PhD), Kevin is no stranger to S-CAR. He was on the original board that organized and launched a Center for Conflict Studies and has been actively engaged in its growth and development since its inception. He moved full-time from the Department of Anthropology to S-CAR in 2003 and currently serves as the Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Resolution (since 2009). He is a prolific author, having published more than seven books and sixty-five articles on culture theory and practice. I have had the good fortune to work in the field with him in Tbilisi, Georgia. His teaching has also taken him to Banaras Hindu University (Fulbright Grantee), University of Malta, Joan B. Kroc Peace Studies in San Diego, Univesidad para la Paz in Costa Rica and Sabanci Univesity in Istanbul. A review of his biography (scar.gmu.edu/ kevin-avruch) witnesses the extensive experiences and gifts he will continue to bring to S-CAR, now in his role as Dean. When he addressed the S-CAR community during the search process he acknowledged that he has “a good sense of where we stand…we are the preeminent institution in the field.” Who wouldn’t want to select him as Dean? More seriously, though he said he had “respect for the history and culture of S-CAR” and is committed to at least two areas of development: student support and “building out Point of View” – our extraordinary property gift from the Lynch family – with a “commitment to remain engaged, reach out to donors who can get excited about Point of View [and can] bring them into the conversations about various projects.” We anticipate a lively and successful launch of our next 10 years' Vision with Kevin’s leadership.