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Printer-Friendly ModeUniversity to refill three dean positions
August 31, 2009 —
As students scramble for textbooks, University officials are involved in a search of their own. Their pursuit, though, won’t end in a bookstore or on Half.com.
The University needs to fill two academic dean positions and by June will need to replace a third.
The two current openings resulted from resignations by Ronald Williams from the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, and Marwan Wafa from the College of Business and Management.
The planned June 2010 retirement of Steve Barbus from the College of Education will create the third vacancy.
Despite the number of departures, Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald Bachand said he is not worried during this transitional period.
“I’m very comfortable with the highquality interims we have,” said Bachand, the person responsible for hiring the new deans. “The students won’t feel a thing.”
Although there is no definite timetable to fill these positions, Bachand said he expects to have all three spots filled in time for the 2010–11 academic year.
In the meantime, Jill Wetmore will serve as interim dean for the business college. Deborah Huntley will assume the role of dean for the science college on an interim basis.
Both Wetmore and Huntley’s experience are further reasons not to rush through the hiring process, Bachand said.
Wetmore previously assumed the position of interim dean for the business college. Huntley had a three-year stint as assistant dean for the science college earlier in the decade.
Although the average tenure for deans is five to six years, Bachand said the position is typically stable.
In the three years since Bachand took his job, he has needed to replace just one dean: himself. He selected Mary Hedberg to replace him in the College of Arts and Behavioral Sciences following his promotion.
Though the number of turnovers is uncommon, the moves are not a surprise. Bachand knew of both Williams’ intent to return to a professor’s role at the University and Wafa’s desire to pursue a higher level administration position. Wafa recently accepted a position as vice chancellor at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus.
With these openings comes an extensive search and hiring process.University officials aren’t content to stay in its backyard to find replacements.
Bachand said they are looking around the country through online means and professional journals. The search won’t conclude until they “get it right,” he said.
“These are way too important of positions to rush through this process,” Bachand said. “We have seasoned interims to fill the roles until it’s over.”