This semester, Associate Professor of History Paul Moreno is stepping down as dean of faculty at Hillsdale College, a position he has held for three years. Moreno said the choice of his replacement is underway, but an official decision has not been made.
Moreno described his dean of faculty job as mostly administrative.
“I’m sort of an ombudsman, a conduit between the faculty and the administration. If there’s a problem, I’m the person faculty members can confide in,” he said.
Moreno said he has served on every committee but the tenure and promotion committees. During his second year as dean of faculty, the college hired extra faculty to make up for the previous year’s hiring freeze. That year Moreno also took part in deliberations over the new core curriculum.
“Colleges are like any human institution: they are made up of human beings,” said Professor of History and former faculty dean Mark Kalthoff, who described Moreno as “efficient and successful” at the job. “There are always rough edges, complaints, and problems that arise with sickness. If you don’t hear much about problems, the dean of faculty is doing his job — to work discreetly, keep confidences, and solve problems at the administrative levels.”
Moreno said he has enjoyed the job.
“Every member of the faculty should have the experience of seeing what it takes to run the college,” he said. “It gave me a greater appreciation for that.”
Moreno has taught at Hillsdale since 1999, and holds the William and Berniece Grewcock Chair in Constitutional History. He teaches courses in Constitutional history, U.S. history from the Civil War to the New Deal, and U.S. history since World War II.
“It’s a fun course,” he said, referring to the WWII class. “Recent history has been popular ever since Thucydides.”
Constitutional history is one of Moreno’s major interests and the subject of his new book, tentatively titled “Twilight of the Constitution,” due from Cambridge University Press this year.
Moreno said he is excited to return to regular professorial duties.
“I have a reputation as the guy who doesn’t like meetings, and now I’m the guy who convenes them. I’ll be looking forward to fewer meetings,” he said, laughing.
