St. John's College Welcomes New Deans in Santa Fe and Annapolis

St. John’s College is welcoming new academic leadership at its Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses.

Sarah Davis will be dean in Santa Fe and Susan Paalman will be dean in Annapolis, each overseeing the college’s distinctive program of instruction with its focus on Great Books and small, discussion-based classes on their respective campuses.

“My interests never fit cleanly into one discipline; I was always pulled between philosophy and anthropology. I had big questions about being human,” says incoming Santa Fe Dean Davis. “At St. John’s, we can pose those types of driving questions, and we encourage that in our students. I’m excited for the opportunity to work in new ways to support and enhance our unique program of study, and its dedication to joint inquiry, curiosity, and wonder.”
Davis received her BA in philosophy and anthropology from Harvard University and her PhD in cultural anthropology from Emory University. She has published creative nonfiction and essays and coedited Being There: Learning to Live Cross-Culturally. Before joining the St. John’s College faculty in 2012, she worked for Time magazine in Paris in New York. Davis recently appeared as a host on the college’s Continuing the Conversation web and podcast series.

Brendan Boyle will serve as associate dean for graduate programs on the Annapolis campus, overseeing the St. John’s College Graduate Institute

Boyle’s term began June 1; Davis and Paalman will take on their roles beginning July 1.

“I think there is a deep hunger for liberal learning in this country,” says Associate Dean Brendan Boyle, who joined the faculty in 2013 with degrees in classics from Princeton and the University of Chicago. “For decades, students met that hunger by coming to Annapolis to pursue the Master of Arts of Liberal Arts. But students now have the additional opportunity to meet that hunger online. The online program has allowed students from across the nation and the world to join in our community of learning.”

At St. John’s College, deans are nominated by the faculty to four- or five-year terms. Santa Fe President Mark Roosevelt and Annapolis President Nora Demleitner approved the nominations, and the Board of Visitors and Governors made the appointments earlier this year. Davis, Paalman, and Boyle succeed deans J. Walter Sterling, Joseph Macfarland, and Emily Langston, who each plan to return to the classroom after taking sabbaticals.