It is unlikely the provost’s office will meet its goal to fill two deans’ positions by semester’s end, which will affect students in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the School of Public Policy.
Search committees narrowed the field to three finalists for positions of public policy school dean and four finalists for the agriculture school dean. Provost Bill Destler said he will select the new deans in the next couple of weeks.
Leadership at this university is more decentralized than at other institutions, said university President Dan Mote, with more autonomy and power given to the deans. They play a central role in the university, making key decisions within their colleges or schools including finding funds, recruiting faculty and determining the budget.
A search committee for the public policy school submitted the names of the finalists it selected to the Provost’s office, said committee chair and Philip Merrill College of Journalism Dean Thomas Kunkel. The finalists are Martin Frost, a former congressman from Dallas; John Graham, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the White House; and Alvaro Umana, head of the Environmentally Sustainable Development Group with the United Nations.
The Provost’s office and the agriculture school declined to identify the finalists for the agriculture school dean because the finalists’ current employers may be unaware of their new job search.
The Provost’s office is collecting feedback from faculty, staff and students who met with the finalists when they toured the university earlier this semester. University administrators wanted to hire the deans by the end of the semester, but said the hiring process will likely pass that deadline because they don’t want to rush.
“It’s not so much finding the person who can do the job, because there’s many people who can do it,” Mote said. “It’s about finding the right fit for the university.”
Both schools have been without permanent deans for nearly two years. Susan Schwab was dean of the public policy school but left in 2003 when President Bush nominated her as Deputy Treasury Secretary, which she later declined. Bill Galston has served as the interim dean since then.
Thomas Fretz stepped down in August 2003 as the agriculture school dean to head an agricultural research association, leaving Bruce Gardner as interim dean.
Kunkel said there is no time limit to how long interim deans stay, but they typically aren’t in charge longer than two years.
“You don’t want interim deans any longer than you have to, because it leaves the school in suspended animation,” he said. The selection of the agriculture dean comes at a time when the school is in transition. The agriculture school is revamping its curriculum, adding more courses in animal biotechnology and incorporating more of the social sciences and engineering themes.
“It will be a challenge for the new dean, but one that can be met,” Mote said.
The public policy school is considered fairly young compared to other schools in the nation but ranks 21 out of 256 public affairs and administration programs nationwide. Mote said the new dean for the school is not only expected to maintain the school but to advance it.
