Stacey Harris will not serve as Duke’s new associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students, a decision made one month after the University first announced she had been selected for the role.
The change of plans was communicated by Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president of student affairs, in a July 18 email to staff within Duke Student Affairs. The University did not announce the reversal in a public statement to the Duke community.
“As you know, we had been looking forward to having Stacey Harris join our team in student affairs,” McMahon wrote in the email. “We are disappointed to report that she will not be joining Duke, and we are continuing our search. We wish Stacey the best in her future endeavors.”
McMahon did not cite a reason for why Harris will no longer be assuming the role but shared that an update “on the next steps” will be provided by Aug. 12. Gregory Phillips, executive director of editorial content and media relations, declined to provide additional information on the matter, writing in a Tuesday email to The Chronicle that Duke “does not comment on personnel matters.”
On Monday, an Instagram account under Harris’ name shared a post announcing that she would no longer be joining Duke’s administration. The account, which has posts of Harris in her previous role as dean of students at The College of William and Mary dating back to January 2023, confirmed in a Tuesday message to The Chronicle that Harris will not be assuming the dean of students role at Duke but declined to comment further.
In the same Monday post, the account claimed that William and Mary employees were “actively communicating about [Harris]” and “attempt[ing] to discredit … to disparage [and] to injure [her].” The post also notes that Harris was aware of the decision by July 12 — three days before her term at Duke would have begun.
Harris’s appointment was originally announced in a June 12 email from McMahon to all graduate, professional and undergraduate students. Her term was set to begin July 15.
Debbie Heida, who has served as interim dean of students since fall 2023, will continue in the role as University administration continues the search for a replacement.
Previously, the Instagram account under Harris's name criticized William and Mary’s administrative culture in a series of July 18 posts condemning what was characterized as “a system that was working hard to maintain the status quo.”
The account cited “pushback, redirection and shaming” for “bringing issues to light” and noted that Harris resigned June 10 as a result of the “toxic bullying.”
Suzanne Clavet, university spokesperson and director of media relations for William and Mary, confirmed in a Tuesday email to The Chronicle that Harris submitted her resignation to William and Mary administration in mid-June.
Clavet expressed that the university “as a practice does not comment on personnel matters.” She pointed to a June 12 email to William and Mary students from Ginger Ambler, senior vice president for student affairs and public safety, as the administration’s official statement on Harris’s departure.
“Dean Harris has been a strong advocate for W&M students,” Ambler wrote. “She made herself available to students both in and out of the office, at events, performances and games. Working closely with individual students as well as groups, she devoted considerable time to helping students navigate through challenging circumstances.”
The June 12 statement noted that Harris’s final day at William and Mary would be June 30 and Ambler would soon meet with Student Affairs and Dean of Students leadership teams “to discuss future plans and preparations for the 2024-25 academic year.”
In the series of July 18 Instagram posts, the account associated with Harris had also alleged that William and Mary is “eliminating” its dean of students role as part of a “full organizational shift.”
Clavet shared in the Tuesday email that William and Mary’s administration recently announced “changes in the student success thematic area of Student Affairs,” which are outlined in a statement from Ambler on the Student Affairs website.
According to the statement, William and Mary administration opted to “strategically re-align the existing Student Success staff … and simultaneously build upon existing senior leadership in Student Affairs” instead of appointing an interim dean and initiating a national search for Harris’s replacement.
The new plan features multiple new positions within the Division of Student Affairs and reorganizes administrative responsibility among seven associate vice president positions who will serve under Ambler.
“The changes are focused on better serving students, reinforcing objectives in Student Affairs’ strategic plan and optimizing resources, both financial and human,” Clavet wrote in the Tuesday email. “… [Student Affairs has a] new structure but all the student services remain.”
Clavet added that “a preliminary outline of this restructuring plan” was shared with William and Mary’s cabinet and Student Affairs team at the end of June and that the updates will be explained in Ambler’s annual welcome-back message to new and returning students in early August.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Zoe Kolenovsky is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.