After seven years of leading the University of Massachusetts’ largest college, Janet Rifkin said she will step down as dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the end of the academic year.

“I feel like I’m leaving the college in a good place,” said Rifkin. “It’s healthy for a college to have a change in leadership, and I think it’s time for me to go in a new direction.”

SBS teaches about one in every four undergraduates in a given year and is home to anthropology, communication, economics, journalism, legal studies, political science, psychology, social thought and political economy and sociology majors.

“One of the challenges and pleasures is that it is the biggest college on campus,” Rifkin said.

Beyond current undergraduate students, Rifkin also works with graduate students and the college’s 44,000 alumni.

“People feel really good about their experiences and are eager to find ways to reconnect, and that has been really interesting,” she said.

Establishing connections to alumni and donors is one her major focuses as dean. Rifkin said there is a greater expectation for deans to look for support outside of state funding than there was a decade ago.

As dean, she said she has focused on enhancing the student experience, including trying to offer smaller classes and more scholarship opportunities.

Rifkin said she has tried to improve conditions for the faculty by hiring more professors and providing more resources for faculty research.

Though there is no news on a replacement, Rifkin said she expects to hear soon. It is undecided whether an interim dean will fill in for next year while they do a national search, she said.

Rifkin said she hopes her successor focuses on things like improving the first-year experience, strengthening the advising program and giving undergraduates more opportunities to do research.

One of the biggest challenges, said Rifkin, has been realizing it is hard to please everyone.

“There are always more needs that can be filled,” she said. “For everything you can do there are things you can’t do, and that can be frustrating.”

Though she is also a legal studies professor, Rifkin said she has felt somewhat removed from the day-to-day contact with students as dean.

“I’ve always liked to teach, and I’ve always loved the interaction with students,” said Rifkin, who now has lunch with students once a month.

Rifkin said she has made no decision to leave the Legal Studies Department but has not decided what she will do once her role as dean ends after graduation.

Fellow colleagues expressed their appreciation of Rifkin’s work.

“She has been a really good leader at the college,” said Robert Feldman, now in his third year as associate dean of SBS.

“I hope the next dean can build on the work Dean Rifkin has done,” he said, citing her understanding of the needs of the faculty.

In an e-mail to faculty, provost and Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Charlena Seymour called Rifkin “an outstanding leader, administrator and colleague who has advocated for her faculty, staff and students effectively. She has promoted the activities of the College to internal and external audiences alike and has successfully raised the profile of the College.”

Seymor continued, “She has been a consummate citizen of this campus and we are indebted to her. Dean Rifkin will leave the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences in a strong position, and we thank her for her dedication, loyalty and leadership.”

On Oct. 1, Seymour announced she too will resign from her post at the end of the academic year.

“It is a time of change in leadership,” said Rifkin.

Rifkin was appointed dean of SBS in 2005 after serving as interim dean since 2002. She chaired the Legal Studies Department from 1997-to-2002 and has been a member of the department since 1974. She was the as associate dean of the College of Social and Behavior Sciences from 1995 to 1997.

Rifkin has co-directed the Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution within the Legal Studies Department since 1997.She served as ombudsperson from 1991-to-1995 and has directed the University Mediation Project since 1980.

Matt Rocheleau can be reached at [email protected].