Even our dean blogs

Dave Schmittlein listens to Bob Dylan and Curtis Mayfield. He so loved Dickens’ Great Expectations that he once had a plant he named Estella, desired beauty of protagonist Pip. He has lived in Philadelphia for 27 years, but still carries the dream of the 1967 Boston Red Sox and is never far in spirit from his native Northampton, Mass.

He watched much of the Red Sox championship run this fall with some Sloanies in the lobby of his building. As a kid, he loved to play Frisbee, Kickball, and Jarts. And baseball, lots of baseball. Yes, baseball is a passion of the newly minted dean of MIT Sloan, the John C Head III Dean.

And so it seems fitting that we unveil Dave’s blog a few days after his beloved Red Sox won the World Series for the second time in four years. Seems fitting as well that his first entry draws a collective significance from those very Red Sox (past and present), Great Expectations, John Fowles’ The Magus, and the value (both literally and figuratively) of re-reading.

Some pretty thoughtful stuff — insightful, personal, genuine, laced with a touch of humor. Oh, and for a math guy, he’s a heck of a writer. Hope you’ll check it out. More entries soon to come.

- Posted by Scott Rolph