The Behavioral Sciences department has begun a search to hire one new full-time faculty member to replace retiring professors, Bill Brower and Jerry Himmelstein.

The committee is focused on finding one full-time staff member that can ideally fill both roles. In theory the new hire might be playing double duty covering both anthropology and sociology classes.

No strict protocol exists determining the composition of a search committee. Some departments have students on them while others do not. The Behavioral Sciences search committee consists of two students and three faculty members and is currently going through dozens of applicant resumes.

“We choose the students to be a part of the committee, first because they are great students and second because they still have awhile before graduation so the person hired could be teaching them in the future,” said retiring Professor of Beahvioral Sciences Jerry Himmelstein.

“I’m very excited to be a part of this,” said Victoria Faucher, a junior in the anthropology/sociology major. “I was a little overwhelmed at first when I saw the amount of applications we were looking at, but I’m also really glad we have had such a diverse response. The deadline for applications is Feb 15, but they already have resumes from all around the U.S. and beyond.”

“I was really honored upon getting an email asking me to serve on the search committee. I’m really excited about meeting new possible additions to the JSC faculty as well as working with the other members of our group,” said Lauren Champaign, also a sociology major. “It’s going to be difficult to choose just one candidate, but it’s really nice to be involved in the decision making. Going through the applications really gives me some insight as to what employers are looking for once you have that degree,”

The new hire will start full-time in the fall.