Master search begins

By Ruby Gee     9/23/10 7:00pm

Jones College has joined Wiess College and Will Rice College in the hunt for new college masters, as their masters Rudy Guerra, a statistics professor, and his wife, Nancy, will be leaving at the end of this year. All faculty members interested in becoming masters will attend a reception at President David Leebron's house on Sept. 29. The reception will allow members from all three of the respective college master search committees to meet and evaluate potentials, Master Search Committee member Chance Marshall said."Right now we're trying to get a pool of faculty to search from, so then we can narrow it down," Marshall, a Jones sophomore, said. "It's a little bit challenging because Will Rice and Wiess are looking for masters . the pool is shared."

While the process of searching for new masters will be fundamentally the same for all of the colleges, committee Chair Skyler Johnson said that each search tends to cater to the individual character of the college. According to Johnson, a Jones senior, Jones masters tend to be more involved at college events and are utilized frequently as a resource.

"I think there are two main things we're looking for in the next Jones masters," Johnson said. "One is willingness to be available to help solve problems by being a vocal participant in the college, but also allowing for student input and decision making, [and] the other is being personable and able to start a conversation with students and encourage the social life at Jones."

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The search committee consists of two students from each year, in addition to the committee chair and college president. Faculty Associate Ric Stoll and College Coordinator Michelle Bennack will aid the committee in the search process, as will a master from another college and the two Jones resident associates.

"When we made the committee, we tried to get a diverse cross-section of Jones, both age-wise and culturally," Jones President Eric Friedlander said.

Jones freshman Monica Barrera, who is a member of the committee, said that an advantage of being a freshman during this process was getting to meet the new masters and make a closer connection with them.

"Masters play a big role in our college culture," Barrera said. "I'm excited because we get to have a big say in the masters for the next five years."

The search committee held its first meeting on Sept. 14, during which the members decided on the general timeline for the search process. They also brainstormed ideas for candidate recruitment and qualities. Some of the qualities they came up with included a good sense of humor, energetic, being comfortable around alcohol and capable of living a public lifestyle.

The Guerras currently are on their sixth year as masters. Multiple administrative turnovers throughout the campus last year made the postponement of the Guerras' retirement necessary for stability's sake. During their term as masters, the Guerras have developed strong bonds with their students.

"The Jones students have become so much a part of my heart. [.] I've adopted them like my own kids," Nancy Guerra said. "I wasn't really prepared for how much I would fall in love with this job and our students . [and I will] miss it terribly."

In particular, the masters mentioned that they will miss the dry humor frequently used by Jonesians and all of the food centered-events held at the master's house. Although he felt working as the Jones master was one of the toughest things he has ever done, Guerra said that caring for the students has been a very rewarding part of his job.

"You have some idea of what the job is like, in theory, but it takes two to three years to become a fully functional master who understands and appreciates their role as master as opposed to a professor who happens to be a master," Guerra said. "The students have taught me a lot."

Jones junior Kaleb Underwood is a member of the search committee who has had the opportunity to interact extensively with the masters as a student leader due to his position as chief justice. He praised the couple for their manner of handling situations in the past.

"They've done a great job [and] have the best interests of Jones at heart," Underwood said. "We'll be challenged to find masters who can live up to what they've done.

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