Dean of the Faculty

Dean of the Faculty, oldest and highest-ranking deanship, was established by the trustees in 1883 as a means of releasing the incumbent president, James McCosh, then seventy-two years old, from certain onerous duties, and of thus persuading him to remain as president as well as professor of philosophy. A bylaw adopted by the trustees charged the dean of the faculty ``with oversight of whatever does not pertain directly to the work of instruction, such in particular as the discipline of the College, the assignment of rooms and the sanitary condition of the Institution.'' As thus defined, this continued to be the dean of the faculty's function until 1909 when, with the creation of the office of the dean of the college, his original duties were assigned to the new dean, and the dean of the faculty took over from the president the administrative oversight of the application and enforcement of rules and standards of scholarship in the University, the chairmanship ex-officio of the faculty committee on examinations and standing, and the responsibility of discharging the general duties of the president in his absence or disability.

During the post-World War II years, as the dean of the college assumed increasing responsibility for the academic life of undergraduates, the dean of the faculty shared with the president increasing responsibility for oversight of departments of instruction and concern for the well-being of the faculty. In 1967, the incumbent of the newly created office of provost took over from the dean of the faculty the responsibility of acting for the president, in his absence or disability, in the general supervision of the University. Deans of the faculty have been:

James O. Murray (English) 1883-1899
Samuel R. Winans (Greek) 1899-1903
Henry B. Fine (mathematics) 1903-1912
William F. Magie (physics) 1912-1925
Luther P. Eisenhart (mathematics) 1925-1933
Robert K. Root (English) 1933-1946
J. Douglas Brown (economics) 1946-1967
Robert R. Palmer (history) 1967-1968
Richard A. Lester (economics) 1968-1973
Aaron Lemonick (physics) 1973-

From Alexander Leitch, A Princeton Companion, copyright Princeton University Press (1978).