John Cawthorne has headed the Lynch School's Offices for Students and Outreach since 1997, serving prior to 2001 as assistant dean.
The Associate Dean of Undergraduate Student Services coordinates the activities of the offices of Graduate Admissions and Professional Practicum Experiences and provides advising services to all undergraduate and master's degree students.
The Office of Undergraduate Student Services, located in Campion 104 and 106(C and D), are available for academic and professional advisement and are an excellent resource for students who have questions about their social, emotional, and intellectual development. Though appointments are recommended, students are encouraged to drop by in cases of emergencies or just to chat.
Dean Cawthorne received in 2001 the Mary Kay Waldron Award presented annually to the Boston College administrator who has done the most to enhance student life at the University.
Prior to joining the administration of the Lynch School, Dean Cawthorne was vice president for education of the National Urban League, Research Professor at Boston College, and Senior Research Associate in the Center for the Study of Testing, Evaluation, and Educational Policy (CSTEEP) at the Lynch School.
A native of Oklahoma, Dean Cawthorne began his teaching career, fresh out of Harvard, in 1964 in Washington, D.C. He has run a federal program for primary students in Washington, consulted with a number of naitonal foundations and school districts, was principal of the Lower School of the Massachusetts Experimental School system, and was director of Chapter I for the Massachusetts Department of Correction, where he was responsible for educational programs for inmates in the Commonwealth's prisons and jails under the age of 21.
Dean Cawthorne has served on numerous boards and advisory committees, was very active in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and for the past several years has "adopted" one Boston Public School where he volunteers at least once a month.