
Maud Mandel is still in the first few months of her new position as the Dean of the College, and we thought that there was no better way to welcome her than to sit her down and interrogate interview her. Dean Mandel graciously agreed, and we’re thrilled to share her thoughts here.
We will admit that since Dean Katherine Bergeron, the previous DoC, left Brown to become the president of Connecticut College, there has been KBerge-sized hole left on Blog and in our hearts. We also have to say, however, that Dean Mandel is already filling that gap, and she is poised to become the new star of BlogDH’s photoshop game. Read on for Dean Mandel’s thoughts on her role as DoC, capes, her book, Beyoncé, and more:
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
BlogDailyHerald: What was your path to Brown?
Dean Maud Mandel: I went to Oberlin College in Ohio, which is a small liberal arts school with an open curriculum. I was an English major, and then I worked for a year before going to graduate school in history at the University of Michigan. I got a PhD in the subfield of Modern Jewish History, and I was just finishing up my doctorate when a position opened up as a visiting professor in Jewish History at Brown. So I came here, and it was a wonderful opportunity because it brought together these two paths – the open liberal arts curriculum of my undergraduate years and the serious research of my graduate school years. I couldn’t have found a better fit. And I’ve been here ever since—I say they’ll have to cart me out in a coffin.
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