After 16 years at the College, Margaret Hazlet, senior associate dean of student affairs, will leave Bowdoin next year to take up a position as Dean of the College at Franklin and Marshall College (F&M), a liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster sent an email to the campus announcing Hazlett’s impending departure on Monday afternoon.
Hazlett said when she first arrived at the College she did not intend to stay for so long.
“I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll be here two or three years and I’ll move on’,” she said.
Foster explained that Hazlett was hired through an unusual chain of events. A mutual friend had reached out to Foster, hoping he would be able to advise Hazlett, who was then in the midst of applying for a position at Georgetown University. Foster, upon seeing her qualifications brought her to the attention of then-Dean of Student Affairs Craig Bradley. Hazlett started at the College as the assistant dean of student affairs.
“Since then, she’s been promoted numerous times,” said Foster. “For the last seven years now, she’s been in her senior associate dean role.”
Foster and Hazlett have worked very closely over the years. Her office is next to his, and has been for the last seven years. Both speak very highly of one another.
“She’s got the really nice combination of imagination, coupled with an ability to get things done and make things happen,” Foster said. “And that’s a rare and special gift.
“She’s a great problem solver and she’s been an important source of support and counsel for me.”
“The best part of this job has been working with Tim Foster,” Hazlett said. “This place is very lucky to have him at the helm as the dean of student affairs.”
Though Hazlett did note a major change in Foster since their early years together: “He had more hair back then,” she said.
At Bowdoin, Hazlett works closely with the Dean’s Office, Health Center, the Counseling Center, and the Children’s Center.
In her new position at F&M, Hazlett will be responsible for overseeing multiple arenas of student life, including athletics, off-campus study, and residential life. Another big shift for Hazlett, will be F&M’s greek life, which has been absent from Bowdoin for over a decade.
“The Greek system has a long history of leadership development, and community service,” said Hazlet. “I’m really excited to explore that.”
Though she has had many offers to leave the College over the years, Hazlett strongly believes that this is the right time for a change. The move also represents a return home for Hazlett, who grew up in the Pittsburgh area.
At F&M, she will work closely with President Daniel Porterfield, who is in his second year at the helm. In a press release from F&M on Monday, he wrote of Hazlett, “She has a tremendous grasp of the needs of talented students and the extraordinary resources of a liberal arts college to foster remarkable learning.”
Foster recognizes that the move to F&M represents a “tremendous opportunity” for Hazlett, and had nothing but kind words to say.
“Franklin and Marshall is going to be very fortunate to have her there,” he said.
He did note, however, that this is “a big loss for our office and for the College.”
Hazlett is not through with Maine, or Bowdoin, even though she will no longer be on staff.
“My husband is from Maine. He said he’s game to do this so long as I promise that we will come back to Maine,” she said.
She will stay on at the College through early June, and then will head to Lancaster a few weeks before her July 1 start date. She says she will spend much of the early weeks “doing a lot of listening.”
The thing that she will take from her experience is “how valuable it is when you bring people from different areas of this campus together to do some problem solving.”
After sixteen years, Hazlett says she has only one regret.
“I always wanted to get to Kent Island,” she said.“That is something I always wanted to do.”