Dr. Ainsley Carry, associate vice president and dean of students, announced this week that he will leave Temple to fill a position at the University of Florida.
Carry accepted the position as associate vice president at the Gainesville, Fla., institution earlier this year, and will begin his position Nov. 13.
As a University of Florida alumnus, Carry said that returning to the school will be like a homecoming.
“I grew up in Miami, and all of my in-laws live in the state of Georgia,” Carry said.
“This is a golden opportunity for me to be closer to my family, and to be of service to my family. This was the first time I had the chance to review my career from a family perspective, and say ‘what’s best for my family?'”Carry said he and his wife, who is four months pregnant, initially decided against the move and the new position.
“When I looked at it professionally, and when I looked at it from where my heart is, my heart is really here at Temple,” Carry said.
“It was a struggle; it was very difficult to make the decision. But, when I started thinking about how this will benefit my family, I think my choice was clear.”
Carry’s last day is Nov. 3. In his absence, Dr. Theresa Powell, vice president of Student Affairs, will take over the duties and responsibilities of the dean of students until a replacement is found.
No interim dean will be named.
“There are some day-to-day things that the dean is involved in, and I will be responsible for those things personally,” Powell said. “Then there are a few responsibilities that he has that I will assign to other members of the division leadership team.”
Carry said that before he leaves, his chief focus will be to tie up all of the loose ends in the dean’s office for his successor. “Now, my primary interest is to make sure that all of the reports have been completed … all of the evaluations are completed, or at least started, answer any final questions [and] make sure that all of the projects I have in my basket all are assigned to someone,” Carry said.
Powell said that the official search for Carry’s replacement will begin in January, though she will start to research possible
candidates before that.
“One of the things about our profession is that it is rare for people to accept another job this late in the season,” Powell said. “What I want to do is get the absolute best possible replacement for him.”
A new dean of students should be on payroll by June, Powell said. Raysean Hogan, student body president, said that his office, which works closely with the dean, was upset to hear the news that he is leaving.
“He’s had such an amazing impact on everything we’ve done,” Hogan said. “It hurts. A lot of people cried.”
Until a new dean is named, Hogan said he will continue to lead the student body in the same direction that Carry had envisioned.
“Until that direction changes, we’re going to continue out with his plans,” Hogan said. “I don’t think it’s going to change, because I think it was great. I’m just going to try to take over as much as possible of whatever I can that he started.”
Before coming to Temple, Carry worked at the University of Arkansas and at Southern Methodist University. He has been the dean of students at Temple for two years.
“I really do leave here with a heavy heart,” Carry said. “It’s tough because I’ve met so many good people, some really great students that I’ve enjoyed working with every day, so it’s one of the toughest professional decisions I’ve ever made.”
Emily Catalano can be reached at catalano@temple.edu.
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