1989 Erlich becomes dean of H&S.
1989 IC Theatre production of Holy Ghosts is selected at the Region II American College Theatre Festival.
1992 First-year seminar program is established in a pilot year supported by the Pew Foundation. The program would expand in 1993 and become an H&S tradition.
1992 Department of Modern Languages and Literatures receives a $157,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to increase cultural content in classes.
1993 Center for Natural Sciences opens.
1993 IC participates in the Harvard University Model United Nations Simulation in
1994 Williams Hall, the120,000-square-foot psychology, math/computer science classroom building, is renovated.
1996 H&S introduces an interdisciplinary honors program combining academic rigor, experiential learning, and self-directed study.
1997 Environmental studies major begins.
1998 Women’s studies minor is launched.
1999 Author and screenwriter William Kennedy is the first guest in the writing program’s Distinguished Visiting Writers Series.
2000 Erlich directs a three-year, $150,000 Hewlett Foundation grant to foster student-faculty collaborative scholarship in the humanities.
2000 Writing major debuts.
2005 Core Experience Task Force, which Erlich chaired, makes its recommendations.
2007 Building on the First Year Seminar Program, H&S pilots the Ithaca Seminar Program to provide students with common experiences that connect classroom and academic learning with other aspects of College life.
Retirement marks the end of two decades of leadership. By Liz Getman '09
Howard Erlich has closed the chapter on his 20 years as dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences, but his life in academia continues. He will spend this year on sabbatical while completing his term as chair of the American Conference of Academic Deans. He is also considering rejoining the faculty.
“Do I want to return to the classroom? Do I want to do some professional writing?” Erlich muses. “I’m looking at all the options.”
Erlich arrived at Ithaca College in 1973 and taught in the Department of Speech Communication for 15 years, achieving tenure in 1979. He served as assistant dean of H&S from 1982 to 1986 and associate dean for the next two years before being named dean in 1988.
“A dean is judged by the good work done under his leadership,” says associate provost David Garcia, who served as H&S associate dean from 2003 to 2006. “During Dean Erlich’s time the school has developed very successful programs.” Among them are the Honors Program — model for a recently instituted College-wide program — and the Ithaca Seminars program for first year students. The school’s enrollment has grown 20 percent, and the number of faculty has expanded by about 50. Art history, environmental science, environmental studies, teacher education, and writing have been added as majors, and new minors include Latin American studies and Jewish studies.
Erlich also served as chair of the Core Experience Task Force and directed the Hewlett Foundation grant supporting student-faculty collaborations.
“Howard is bright, thoughtful, and committed to Ithaca College,” says Peggy R. Williams, who also retired this summer. “H&S has grown not only in enrollment and academic program diversity, but also in stature under his leadership.”
Erlich feels he is leaving at a good time for H&S. “The school has never been better,” he says. “I’ve been spoiled because I’ve worked with people who are really committed to elevating its quality. I’ve loved my job. This is the best purpose: to try to help students advance their own intellect.”
Erlich was succeeded by Leslie W. Lewis, a teacher-scholar of American literature who was most recently interim dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York.
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