By Paulo Fugen
Photo retrieved from http://www.qatar.northwestern.edu/
The associate dean for academic affairs at Northwestern University in Qatar will be leaving the university next May, according to an email sent out to the NU-Q student body, faculty and staff on Tuesday, October 21.
Everette Dennis, dean of Northwestern University in Qatar, sent out the email Tuesday afternoon announcing that Dr. Jeremy Cohen informed him that “he will complete his service at NU-Q and depart at the end of the spring semester.”
Cohen said that he and his wife, Catherine Jordan, had talked about the decision “all the time” before ultimately deciding to leave in May 2015. “It’s really hard because I really love our students,” said Cohen. “Everyone who’s a student here is doing something to make the world a better place.”
Dennis said that Cohen had improved many critical campus functions, which included implementing the media and politics minor in collaboration with Georgetown University School of Foreign affairs in Qatar as well as bringing key changes to the admissions, student records and faculty advising operations.
Moreover, Dennis said that Cohen had delayed his plans to move to the West Coast to come to NU-Q. “He had no plans to come here when I first contacted him”, said Dennis. “He hadn’t thought about coming here… we talked about it and he rose to the challenge.”
Cohen said that he and his wife had planned to retire before coming to NU-Q, but were impressed when they got the opportunity to meet the students, faculty and staff at the university. “I said, this could be interesting,” said Cohen. “It took me 20 minutes to make my decision [to come here]”.
According to Cohen, there were two “sets of pressures” that influenced his decision to leave. One of these was the fact that he and his wife missed their extended families back in the United States. “We’ve missed a lot of things [in their lives],” said Cohen.
The second included two books that he wants to write. One will focus on undergraduate students and the other will focus on the idea of conscience from the perspective of people who refuse to go to war, which he has named “Profiles in Conscience”.
Students were surprised when they received the announcement, with many saying that he would be a loss to the Northwestern community.
“He’s one of those people who contributes to that atmosphere of family in Northwestern,” said Maryam Jeffries, a freshman in the NU-Q journalism program. “He’s there for every birthday, he always asks people how they’re doing He really, really cares about us.”
“What I know of him is that he gets things done, and he takes care of matters,” said Zahed Bata, a senior in the NU-Q communications program.
Bata, who is also vice president of the NU-Q Student Union, added that Cohen made many structural changes that were not necessarily announced, such as the separation of academic advising from the student affairs department.
Sandra Richards, the director of the liberal arts program at NU-Q, said that she appreciated Cohen’s leadership, particularly when he coordinated faculty, academic affairs and student records in an effort to make the course registration system more efficient.
Dennis said in the announcement that the search for Cohen’s successor “will begin in the next few weeks.”
“It’s big shoes to fill,” said Lakisha Tillman, student and residential life manager at NU-Q. “His laughing, his personality, has brought a lot of life to this campus.”
