You’ve been at this faculty for quite some time, but now that you’re dean, I’m sure you are encountering completely new aspects of the faculty.
“As the head of the Public Administration and Sociology department I was closer to the work floor, meaning I dealt with people who had questions or were experiencing problems. I had to deal with these problems, come up with new ideas and solve minor conflicts. Now that I’m dean, I am further removed from the work floor. I’m dealing with issues that are important to the entire faculty, or even the entire university. The difference is greater than I expected. This is largely due to the fact that I’m dealing with the faculty’s strategy at present, which is to say, questions such as ‘who are we, and who do we wish to be in the future?’ At any rate, it’s definitely an interesting job.”
Is a public administration specialist, such as yourself, automatically a good administrator?
“No, not necessarily. Public administration specialists are better at analysing certain issues – how processes work, or how to go about changing an organisation. But at the end of the day, I think it’s mainly about leadership and certain leadership qualities.
I think I’m generally well informed. My forte is connecting people and themes; I always try to empower people, and to encourage them to further develop ideas that mean a lot to them. Furthermore, I think I am open-minded.”
One of your first major assignments is the development of a new strategic plan. How are you going about this?
“I’m trying to make this a procedure that doesn’t just take place in the dean’s room, involving the usual suspects. I think it’s important that we get input from as many employees as possible, ranging from tutors and support staff to full professors. For this reason, we hosted round-table discussions at Erasmus University College, which attracted at least one hundred employees. At the meetings we discussed four subjects: Who are we, and who do we wish to be? What types of research themes should we initiate, and what kinds of themes should we teach? And finally, what kinds of qualities are required to do this?”
What did you learn from these discussions?
“It was interesting to see that all the various disciplines represented at ESSB do see a common role for themselves. We all agree that it is vital that we produce knowledge that is not just scientifically relevant, but socially relevant. We also agree that science seeks to be a public affair, which is to say, policy-relevant and practice-oriented. The second conclusion we drew is that these scientists also wish to encourage a public debate on certain social trends.”
Can you provide us with an example of something that would make the faculty more socially relevant?
“We should be focusing more on subjects such as how we can help municipal policy-makers tackle major issues such as obesity or keeping the city liveable. A behavioural science approach can teach people how to capitalise on people’s motives more successfully.”
ESSB’s restructuring caused quite the commotion. Some people left, while others feared an increased workload. A recent employee satisfaction survey shows that the employees’ workload has indeed increased. How do you feel the restructuring went?
“We have recently evaluated the restructuring, and we arrived at the conclusion that the restructuring was successful to some degree. It has resulted in the faculty’s being financially sound again. We can even indulge in some capital expenditure now. We also drew the conclusion that our approach to internationalisation is paying off. Our new bachelor’s degree in Management of International Social Challenges (MISOC) attracted 85 students in its second year, up from about 65 students in its first year. This means we have met our targets. Our English-language bachelor’s degree in Psychology is quite a hit, as well.
“We have recently evaluated the restructuring, and we arrived at the conclusion that the restructuring was successful to some degree. It has resulted in the faculty’s being financially sound again. We can even indulge in some capital expenditure now. We also drew the conclusion that our approach to internationalisation is paying off. Our new bachelor’s degree in Management of International Social Challenges (MISOC) attracted 85 students in its second year, up from about 65 students in its first year. This means we have met our targets. Our English-language bachelor’s degree in Psychology is quite a hit, as well.
Do you believe that the restructuring is entirely to blame for the increased workload?
“No, not entirely. It’s also a fact that both the faculty and society at large are imposing greater demands on people. There is an increased demand for high-quality research and teaching. Social relevance is increasingly important. Sometimes you can get it by hiring more people, but that is not always the right solution. Sometimes ‘an increased workload’ is synonymous with other problems within an organisation. Sometimes people find procedures unclear, or they don’t have a clear view of their own career prospects.”
Last Saturday, 10 February, marked the deadline for the submission of applications for the subsidies allowing women to be appointed to full professorships, the so-called Westerdijk chairs. ESSB applied for one such subsidy. The university as a whole was entitled to nine applications, but was only able to find four candidates. How do you feel about that?
“It’s a great pity. It is very obvious that this university – and this faculty, as well – has a long way to go in terms of diversity. It’s not always easy; you have to consider availability on the one hand and quality on the other. The Westerdijk chairs come with certain quality requirements, and not everyone is meeting those requirements yet. One of the crucial components of my strategy is our personnel policy. Diversity constitutes a major aspect of that.”
What things leave room for improvement at ESSB?
“We want to take a serious look at how to get women to be appointed full professors or associate professors sooner. An important component of this is making sure the pipeline is full of potential candidates. We have to consider what these barriers are that women have to deal with. Perhaps they are the way we assess people, or perhaps it is our publication requirements. But we also have to look at how we deal with pregnancies, and how we can be more considerate of them.”
Most other EUR faculties failed to find a single candidate for the Westerdijk chairs. Did ESSB have a hard time finding a candidate?
“No, it wasn’t difficult. We were fortunate in that we had at least one person who was an obvious candidate.”
Did you look if there were any other candidates whom you might have submitted?
“We did have a look, but in the end, only one candidate was available.”
Has the faculty drawn up its own targets for women in high-ranking positions?
“Yes. The university’s target is to have 20 percent of high-ranking positions held by women by 2020. I don’t think our faculty is doing a bad job of it.” (Twenty-nine percent of the faculty’s professors with an endowed chair are female, as well as 17 percent of regular full professors – ed.).
Perhaps you could decide to set the target a little higher?
“Well, I think it would be good for us to meet this target first. Afterwards, we’ll see what happens next.”
