| Making her mark After 18 years associate dean Levinson turns focus to research, teaching BY ADRIENNE FRANK
Photo by Jeff Watts
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When Nanette Levinson was a freshman at Harvard University, the dean summoned her to a meeting, as she did with every new student, to discuss her progress. “Nanette, I noticed you went to North Miami Senior High School,” said the dean, perched behind a beautiful mahogany desk, with a large dog lying at her side. “Well, I want to warn you, I don’t think you’re going to do very well here.” Levinson was crushed. “I had really been looking forward to this meeting,” she says. “I was devastated.” After one semester at Harvard, however, Levinson proved the dean wrong, climbing to the top 1 percent of the entire undergraduate class. More importantly, though, she learned a lesson that has shaped her 26-year career at AU, making her one of the most beloved administrators and professors at the School of International Service. “I never dreamed at that time that I would have the opportunity to be in the position of that dean,” she says. “But I knew I would never label students or set expectations based on the type of high school they attended. Deans need to focus on potential.” And as senior associate dean, a position she held for 18 years before leaving that office at the end of the fall 2005 semester to focus on teaching and research, Levinson has done just that. “In SIS, we really want to get our students involved as partners in learning from day one,” says Levinson, who teaches in the Division of International Communication. “[They] are there with us in our incubator for ideas, to really come up with things that will make a difference. “It’s been tremendously exciting to work together with faculty, with Dean Goodman, and with colleagues in all parts of this university to make things happen,” she continues. SIS dean Louis Goodman describes Levinson, who arrived at AU two days after graduating from Harvard with her doctorate in June 1979, as a “transforming force in SIS.” Praising her “unique blend of enthusiasm, compassion, generosity, intelligence, and commitment to excellence,” Goodman says Levinson has “initiated some of the most important academic innovations in SIS during her years as dean.”
She helped develop the Undergraduate Research Symposium, an annual celebration of scholarship, now in its ninth year. In 1991, Levinson also created the SIS Service Experience, which later became the Freshmen Service Experience (FSE). The program, which began with 35 students, has become “an integral part of the AU student experience,” according to Gail Hanson, vice president of campus life. Last August, more than 500 freshmen logged about 10,000 community service hours at 46 sites throughout the D.C. area.
“FSE has become one of AU’s signature programs,” says Hanson. “For many freshmen, it is the first step in connecting to the D.C. community and experiencing what we mean by turning ‘action into service.’” Levinson, who works closely with the SIS Graduate Student Council and undergraduate cabinet, also helped create the SIS Portal Program. Each summer, 200 to 300 incoming students read a case study and come to campus prepared to debate issues and exchange ideas. The program, now in its seventh year, has resulted in “marriages, partnerships, and lifelong friendships,” says Levinson with a smile. In addition to developing executive training programs for organizations like Xerox Corp., whose CEO is a former student, Levinson has also been instrumental in developing new curriculum. She’s especially proud of the fact that SIS’s course offerings have doubled from 119 in fall 1989 to more than 200 this semester. The number of honors courses has also jumped, from two in 1989 to 16 in 2006. “We’ve shared a vision of excellence for the school and it’s something that really builds on the strength of our faculty, staff, and alums,” says Levinson. “It’s a distinctive vision [that’s] linked to our history and to our traditions. And it’s been a joy for me to actually add to those traditions.” With her January 2007 sabbatical approaching, Levinson felt it was time to focus on her research—one project looks at collaborations with grassroots development projects and the other examines cross-national alliances and the sharing of knowledge. She’s also thrilled to return to the classroom; one need only look around Levinson’s airy McCabe office, which is lined with gifts from students, to know her heart belongs to them. “The students and my colleagues energize me. The role of being a professor and a senior associate dean is one of the most extraordinary roles that anyone can have in this world today,” she says. “One of the most special things is for a student to walk through your door 10 years later and say, ‘You know, what I learned in your class has really made a difference in my career, and in my life.’” Matt Barkan says it’s been “a pleasure to know [Levinson],” who he’s worked with closely as president of the SIS Graduate Student Council. “I have never seen an educator more dedicated to her students—both academically and administratively—than Dean Levinson,” he says. “When any opportunity arose to work with students or promote their learning, her eyes would fill with excitement. We have been lucky to have her as our dean, and students and faculty, alike, celebrate her return to teaching.” |
