Colby-Sawyer Assistant Professor Andrew Cahoon has been appointed interim dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. He will begin July 7.

He replaces Hilary Williams, who was appointed interim academic vice president and dean of faculty in May. 

Cahoon said his academic expertise will inform his administrative role. “My science and math background has trained me to collect as much data as I can, sort out the variables and consider how the key variables interact with one another,” he said. “That process starts with listening to my colleagues and then relying on my analytical skills to assess the available options.” 

Cahoon’s responsibilities will include planning and assigning course schedules, hiring adjuncts, distributing funds, reviewing personnel and troubleshooting day-to-day issues. He’ll also help guide curricular changes, facilitate development of new programs and promote recruitment and retention in existing programs. 

Williams described Cahoon as thoughtful, positive and committed to the college. “He has a record of extensive service leadership on campus, and I trust that he will steward the School of Arts & Sciences well, supporting colleagues, students and initiatives,” she said. 

Cahoon led the development and launch of the data science minor and recruited a student cohort for the program. In the fall, Cahoon will also teach Linear Algebra with Python, a new data science course. 

All students, he said, need to be able to filter vast amounts of information from varied sources and formats, and have the knowledge and experiences to think critically about the information, as well as collaborate with others and clearly express ideas. 

“As we move forward, all of our programs will need to adapt to the changing information landscape, especially as it relates to AI,” he said. “I think that the advent of AI, in particular, makes a liberal education more valuable than ever.” 

Cahoon particularly enjoys teaching the introductory physics course because it addresses questions fundamental to nature.  

“It is fun to develop the theories in the abstract then reveal how they can explain what we see in the world around us,” he said. “We get to talk about things like, why you don’t fall over when riding a bike, what causes rainbows to appear and how is GPS mapping affected by time dilation?” 

Cahoon, who incorporates his daughters, Julia, 19, and Sophia, 17, in examples to illustrate points in class, said he's grateful to have so many excellent faculty collaborators at Colby-Sawyer.  

“Since my first day, I have appreciated that this is a place dedicated to teaching excellence,” he said. “I value being a part of the strong teaching culture and watching how much students develop and grow during their time at CSC.” 

His colleagues think highly of him as well. During the search process for the interim dean, Cahoon’s peers said his strengths included strategic vision, thoughtfulness, a calm and level-headed temperament, good communication skills, listening, care, collaboration and creative problem-solving. 

“As I imagine it, a dean is like the hub of a network with connections to the faculty and staff in their school and to the administrative offices across the college,” Cahoon said. “From that position, they manage the resources that their school needs to thrive in accordance with the mission of the college.”