Yesterday, President Safa Zaki announced in an email to the Bowdoin community that Senior Vice President and Dean for Academic Affairs Jen Scanlon will step down from her administrative role at the end of the 2025–2026 academic year. Following a sabbatical year, Scanlon, who is also a professor of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, will return to teaching in fall 2027.

Zaki expressed her gratitude for Scanlon as a colleague and mentor during her first years at the College.

“In my time here, I have relied more than I can say on her institutional knowledge, her care and thoughtfulness, and her deep and varied experiences as a member and mentor of our faculty,” Zaki wrote. “[Scanlon] has also been an indispensable advisor to me at a time when challenges in higher education have grown increasingly persistent and complex.”

Scanlon first stepped into this role in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Zaki described several of Scanlon’s accomplishments over the past few years, including leading the faculty through remote learning, advocating for the importance of the humanities and working with faculty and committees on navigating a changing technological landscape. She has also worked to emphasize “inclusive excellence” in academics and organized faculty leadership programs. Additionally, Scalon helped plan the renovations and improvements to Sills Hall, the Schiller Coastal Studies Center and the Roux Center for the Environment.

Zaki also highlighted Scanlon’s academic scholarship and accolades, including awards for teaching, research grants and scholarly publications and books.

“In addition to serving in this pivotal role of supporting faculty scholarship, creative work and teaching, [Scanlon] is herself an accomplished historian and gender studies scholar and a talented teacher,” she wrote.

Zaki shared that she will make more information available soon about the process for selecting Scanlon’s successor. Zaki will work with the Committee on Governance and Faculty Affairs to plan this process.

“P​​lease join me in thanking [Scanlon] for her skillful leadership and commitment to supporting the work we do here. I look forward to this next year of working with her in this role,” Zaki wrote.