Calhoun named dean of special programs

Paul Calhoun, interim dean of special programs at Skidmore for the past two years, has agreed to serve permanently as dean, beginning immediately, according to a March 30 announcement by Beau Breslin, dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs.

Appointed interim dean in May 2011, Calhoun has used a unique combination of skills drawn from the academic, business, and arts fields to enrich Skidmore’s reputation as a cultural destination, known for providing innovative programs year-round.

Calhoun served as the seventh F. William Harder Professor of Business Administration at the College, from 2006 to 2011. Before joining the Skidmore community he was the director of operations and finance at the Arsenal Center for the Arts just outside Boston, and before that he spent 33 years with Mellon Financial Corporation.

He is a 1972 graduate of Yale, where he earned a degree in economics.

Calhoun’s banking career encompassed several lines of business, enabling him to work and live in the U.S. and abroad, based for long periods in Pittsburgh, Mexico City, London, and Boston. He coupled this multinational experience with his expertise in commercial and international lending, credit policy, residential mortgage lending, and investment services to launch a new Skidmore course in business strategy called “Global Financial Institutions.” He also taught the capstone course in Business Strategy, and he developed MB 190, “Presenting the Brand Called Me,” the popular one-credit course designed to improve students’ ability to present themselves in both informal and professional situations. 

In the wider community, Calhoun served as an overseer and member of the finance committee at the Boston Museum of Science and as a director at Boston Theatre Works and Saratoga’s Universal Preservation Hall; he is currently a member of the SaratogaArtsFest board of trustees.

Said Breslin, “As leader of the Office of the Dean of Special Programs, Paul has demonstrated a wonderful combination of passion for the arts, commitment to liberal education, and financial acuity. I have no doubt that over the next several years we will realize his team’s impressive vision for the entire operation. I look forward to working with him and his colleagues to turn vision into reality.”