The Women Studies department at the University of Washington has a new chair, and UW officials believe they've found the perfect man for the job.

That's right. Man.

By naming a male, the university not only is bucking a 35-year tradition of females holding that job at the UW, but it also will stand alone among the 10 major universities that offer doctoral programs in women studies.

Professor David Allen's appointment is stirring mixed feelings among faculty and students, and even he acknowledges it's a "risky venture."

"It's not so much risky for me individually as it is politically. One way to interpret this is, 'Here's yet another white guy claiming to have expertise over women,' " he said. "Another position is that relatively few women hold administrative positions, so why on earth would the university make it worse by appointing a man to a women-studies program?"

Allen, 57, has taught women-studies courses for 15 years at the UW, specializing in feminist research methods. As he prepares to take on the role in September, he points to his long-standing commitment to feminist scholarship and his management expertise. He said his role will be more supportive than authoritarian, and he feels like he will be giving something back to the university.

"I do think men ought to be committed to supporting feminism, just like whites should be committed to supporting anti-racism," he said.

But Nancy Kenney, an associate professor in the department, said most people are stunned.

"It's a little hard to understand how it's going to work out," she said. "Some people are disappointed."

Kenney said she respects Allen as an individual and colleague. She even finds that her own aversion to a male leader doesn't sit well with the politics she has been teaching at the UW for nearly 30 years.

"I think I'm being sexist in my interpretation," she said. "Why should I critique a person because of his sex when I fight sexism at all times?"

Kenney said all 22 graduate students in the department are women, and that "about 98 percent" of about 50 undergraduates who major in women studies are also women. A higher percentage of men take individual women studies courses, she added.

The department began, Kenney said, with some committed students and a couple of part-time assistant professors. The department reached a milestone when its first doctoral students began in 1998, and has grown to about 10 faculty — all women — dozens of associate professors and several hundred students.

Kenney said she was approached about the job after Chairwoman Judy Howard landed a promotion, but wasn't interested because it would distract from her research program.

Allen, who will make $103,000 annually, was appointed by David Hodge, the dean of arts and sciences. Hodge said he wanted a full professor to take the role, and that limited his choices in the small department.

"This was not a casual appointment; recognizing the tradition and culture was heavily weighted," Hodge said. "I was persuaded because the overwhelming majority of the department was supportive, if not downright enthusiastic."

Priti Ramamurthy, an associate professor of women studies, said Allen has an excellent rapport with students and faculty and is the ideal person for the job.

"It marks changes in the field of women's studies. The idea that women's studies is only for and about women is no longer the case," she said. "It's moved to a focus on social construction, not just of women but also of masculinity, and the changing relationships between men and women, women and women, and men and men."

But Melissa Pico, a UW undergraduate who is majoring in women studies, said the university could have found a qualified woman for the position who also could have served as a role model to students.

"Men can never be as personally affected by women's issues as women are," she said. "It affects our everyday life, how we treat our bodies, our careers, everything."

Allen said his interest was sparked as a young man when he studied sexism in the health-care industry and got caught up in "the 1970s second-wave feminist movement."

He has a history of defying gender stereotypes: He headed the predominantly female faculty in the department of Psychosocial and Community Health in the UW School of Nursing. Earlier in his career, he worked as a nurse.

"What I experienced in that role was largely male privilege, like getting deferred to when I shouldn't have," he said. "I didn't get the same level of grief about things as my female colleagues did."

He added that his father, an insurance salesman, thought it an "outrageously bad idea" that he become a nurse.

"He thought if you are a man and nursing, you must be gay," said Allen, who is married with two children.

Until he starts his new job, Allen will continue as a professor in the School of Nursing and adjunct professor with Women Studies.

He said his biggest fear is losing students before they start.

"Graduate students may flick onto the Web site and say, 'Oh my god, there's a white guy there, I'm outta here,' " Allen said. "But hopefully I will get a chance to engage them in conversation first."

Nick Perry: 206-515-5639 or nperry@seattletimes.com