Faced with the challenge of hiring the next generation of Andover teachers, Temba Maqubela has been named the new Dean of Faculty by Head of School Barbara Chase. He will succeed current Dean of Faculty Stephen Carter, who will continue to teach as an Instructor in the Math Department and work as Chief Financial Officer of the school. Appointed at what he described a “very crucial time,” Mr. Maqubela’s most imminent duty will be the hiring of a new and talented faculty. Depicting the recent retirement of several faculty members as the beginning of the loss of “what has anchored Andover for many years,” Mr. Maqubela will work closely with both Department Chairs and a number of other institutions in injecting Andover’s faculty with a talented pool of individuals that will lead Andover teaching for the many years to come. Referring to the fact that the eight retiring members of the faculty honored at last week’s All-School Meeting represent a loss of 250 years of teaching on Andover Hill, Mr. Maqubela stated that people with the right mix of experience, understanding, skills, and energy will need to be hired in order to makeup for the loss that the Academy is facing. Other than the hiring of new teachers, Maqubela has “no set agenda” and hopes to act as a “conduit of the faculty to the administration and vice-versa.” In a process that began during the first week of April, members of the Faculty Advisory Committee and the Deans’ Council thoroughly interviewed Maqubela. Although Mrs. Chase was responsible for making the final decision, she received extensive input from several other members of the faculty. In addition to both recruiting new faculty and acting as a liaison between members of the faculty and the administration, Maqubela will also carry the responsibility of overseeing such issues as faculty evaluation, housing, orientation, workload, and teaching fellows. “My main responsibility, however, is to be the voice for the faculty,” Mr. Maqubela stated. A member of the Phillips Academy community since 1987, Mr. Maqubela is no stranger to the role of an administrator. Currently the Director of (MS)2, a competitive summer program for minority students with demonstrated talent in mathematics and science, Mr. Maqubela also served as Chair of the Chemistry Department from 1994 to 1999. Elected to the Faculty Advisory Committee in both 1990 and 1996 as well as to the Faculty Compensation System Committee in 1999, Mr. Maqubela currently sits as an elected member on the Strategic Planning Committee. Mr. Maqubela said that he is “humbled and honored” that he has been chosen to lead Andover’s “exemplary” faculty. The holder of a Bachelors of Science in Chemistry from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria and a Masters of Science in Chemistry from the University of Kentucky, Mr. Maqubela is known among students for the teaching Andover’s tougher Chemistry classes. His courses include Chemistry 580, an Honors level Advanced Placement Chemistry class and Chemistry 610, the equivalent of a second year university level class in Organic Chemistry. Despite the high demands as the new Dean of Faculty, Mr. Maqubela will still continue to teach one course per term. Along with Instructor in Chemistry David Stern, he is currently designing a new course entitled Introduction to Spectroscopy and Chromatography. Outside of the classroom, Mr. Maqubela has coached both Cluster Basketball and Cluster Soccer and has also served as a house counselor. Excited with the challenge of his new post, Mr. Maqubela stated that he “hope[s] to continue the great work of [his] predecessors.”
