First man to lead women studies department

He says he was surprised to be invited to apply for the position, but David Allen's appointment to chair the women studies program didn't shock him.

"It's a measure of how the field has changed that a substantial number of people thought of entertaining a man as a candidate for the position," he said.

What has been shocking is the amount of attention he's received because of it.

"It's generated a lot more energy than any of us anticipated," said Allen, who was appointed chair of the department by David Hodge, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, several months ago.

Since then, Allen, who has been an adjunct professor of women's studies for 15 years, has been fielding calls from reporters. His name has appeared in newspapers as far away as Great Britain.

But Allen's appointment has also generated worries of a nature most departments don't have to be concerned about. In an academic world that treats women as equals after years of gender discrimination, some are asking if having a man heading a department devoted to the opposite sex is a wise decision.

"There are a couple of folks for whom this is an unpopular choice," Hodge said. "There's no big message we're trying to send here," he added quickly. "What we have is the unique circumstance of an individual who has been teaching in the department for 15 years ... who's had tremendous success in a department that's female-dominated."

Before his appointment, Allen E-mailed the undergraduate women's studies majors and the 22 graduate students. Nearly all are female, and not everyone was in favor of his appointment.

"Certainly half of the undergrads thought it was a bad idea," he said. "They thought the head of women's studies would be a woman. For the graduate students, they would have preferred to have a woman of color or a person of color."

Allen, who is replacing outgoing chair Judith Howard, was the strong recommendation of a search committee headed by Miriam Kahn, chair of the anthropology department.

Howard called Allen "an excellent choice for the position and deeply committed to the department."

"I feel certain that anyone who meets David will feel certain of his commitment to women's studies," she said.

But Nancy Kenney, an associate professor of women studies, said she felt saddened more than anything else when she learned Allen had been appointed.

"I like David. I think he'll be good for the department," she said. "But I also have some misgivings. Not because of his abilities in any way, shape or form. My misgivings relate to my sadness that there are not any women professors on this campus who are qualified and ready to take over that position."

The women studies department has only two female full professors. Neither was interested in the position, Kenney said.

"The pipeline is empty," she added. "I think it is not necessarily a position that should be held by a woman. I just wish there were more choices."

Allen is also concerned about what potential students and alumni donors may think of a man in what has literally been nothing but a woman's chair since the department's inception in 1970.

"This is a complicated issue and it's a lot grayer than it sometimes looks," he said. "If somebody talks to us seriously and then decides not to come, I can accept that. If someone doesn't choose to have a conversation and decides not to come, that worries me."