The university appointed James Carter, Ph.D., as the interim dean for the College of Arts and Sciences on March 22. Carter began teaching at St. Joe’s in 1999 as an assistant professor of history, specializing in the history of late imperial and modern China. Carter also served as the chair of the history department since 2015. For the next two years, Carter will be a full-time administrator and will not be teaching.
The Hawk spoke with Carter to learn more about his plans for the College of Arts and Sciences as he moves into his new role.
How has St. Joe’s allowed you to pursue your interests and goals as a history professor?
For me, a really important piece of what I do is teaching undergraduates. There are many different kinds of universities, but at a place like St. Joe’s that focuses on undergraduate education, that’s something I see as being really important. Not because I’m going to make them specialists on the history and society of China, but because I want to make them educated citizens that go out into the world and understand something about it.
How has your work as a professor at St. Joe’s prepared you for this position?
I collaborate a lot with my colleagues and I work closely with my students. What’s essential for a college is the exchange of ideas and the way people start to come together for a common good, where they can exchange and use those ideas to make a better college and, ideally, a better society and world.
What will be among your initial priorities for the College of Arts and Sciences?
We have issues of inclusion and diversity, that’s a big priority for me to work with. And to be concerned with making the undergraduate experience of St. Joe’s something that people are going to continue to seek out and find rewarding.
What are you looking forward to in your new role as the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences?
Fortunately, my whole career has been at St. Joe’s, and I’m looking forward to being part of the decision-making process to try and help it move to the next phase. The merger [with the University of the Sciences] is going to be a historic opportunity with a lot of challenges and I’m looking forward to being a part of that process.
How do you plan to lead the College of Arts and Sciences through the potential merger with USciences?
It’s too early to say, but I’ll be talking with students, other administrators and faculty to find out what it is that’s essential to St. Joe’s and figuring out how we can take that and use the strengths at University of the Sciences to create an institution that’s hopefully more than the sum of its parts.
What other challenges do you anticipate in this role?
We have so many challenges and opportunities coming up. Higher education is facing a lot of challenges with demographic changes, and that’s going to be something that St. Joe’s needs to be in a strong position to navigate. Then merging from the pandemic, that’s going to take a lot of work to figure out what the new normal is. I really am looking forward to working with the other deans and the university leadership to figure out how to make St. Joe’s the best St. Joe’s it can be.