October 5, 1988
Third finalist for affirmative action officer presented to students, selected by President Dunn for the position
E. Shelton Burden was the third and final candidate for affirmative action officer to meet with students. Her open forum drew the largest crowd of any of the three forums. After it had ended, the search committee worked in earnest to read all of the comment sheets and come to a decision about who to recommend to President Dunn. After receiving the committee’s recommendation, President Dunn selected Burden to be Smith College’s first affirmative action officer. Burden’s first task when she started in January would be to make an affirmative action plan that complied with the stipulations of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program. After she had done that, Burden was to work with the various Smith hiring office and eventually also serve as a grievance officer. President Dunn’s decision corresponded with that of the committee; after reading through approximately fifty written evaluations of the candidates, the search committee had cast their bid for Burden.
The full Sophian article on the forum can be found here (1, 4).
The full Sophian article on the Burden’s appointment can be found here (1, 3).
[Last updated on October 31, 2018]