The College of Engineering, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the library are searching for new deans to fill positions left by pending departures. The College of Media also still lacks a permanent dean, but a search is not being conducted at this time. 

Dean searches for the College of Veterinary Medicine and the library are under way and are conducted by committees of “experienced leaders on campus,” said campus spokeswoman Robin Kaler in an email. The College of Engineering will conduct an independent national search aided by search firm Isaacson, Miller.

Kaler said the committees’ jobs are to name finalists for the positions, but Provost Ilesanmi Adesida will make the final hiring decisions.

Committee members are unable to comment on the searches until they have been completed, Kaler said.

She said the Office of the Provost expects to have the searches completed by late spring or early summer.

“Colleges need to engage in multi-year planning efforts,” Kaler said. “So it is always preferable to have permanent deans in place.”

Because this leadership is necessary, Kaler said, current deans for the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Library will remain in their positions until chosen permanent deans assume their roles. 

Veterinary Medicine Dean Herbert Whiteley announced in October that he will be returning to a faculty position after serving as the college’s dean for the past 12 years. In his tenure as dean, Whiteley said he plans to continue working as a faculty member after stepping down.

He said he decided to step down because it was a convenient time for a new dean to take over following the completion of a strategic plan for the college.

Dean of Libraries Paula Kaufman will also step down after holding the position since 2009 and after more than 13 years as a University Librarian.

But Kaler said the dean position for the College of Engineering is not as certain, as the University of Washington pegged Interim Dean Michael Bragg as its next dean of Engineering. Bragg will begin his tenure at Washington in July. 

The College of Engineering has been without a permanent dean since then-Dean Adesida took over as provost in August 2012. The University promoted Bragg, who was executive associate dean for academic and faculty affairs at the time, to interim dean.

The College of Media is also without a permanent dean, though the University is not actively recruiting.

The college has not had a permanent leader since Ronald Yates stepped down as dean in 2009. Yates was succeeded by then-journalism department head Walt Harrington, while the University conducted a national search for his successor.

The search ended up costing the University more than $92,000, and although four finalists were named for the job, the University decided to abandon the search and name then-advertising department head Jan Slater the interim dean. The University chose Slater rather than choosing a search finalist for the position because of financial standing and possible consolidation of the college.

Slater was initially supposed to serve a two-year term, but in November 2011, then-interim Provost Richard Wheeler said Slater would serve as interim dean through the 2012-13 academic year.

Kaler said the University is not conducting a search for the dean of College of Media because the University can only handle a limited number of dean searches at a time. The other three units were “most critical for this year, in terms of size and scope of the units and upcoming retirements of current deans,” she said.

When Slater took over, the college was one of four units being considered for possible consolidation. Slater said the college’s administration has done everything that has been requested of it, including balancing the budget and going through the re-accreditation process. Slater said despite the interim title, she has had great success meeting the college’s goals, but she noticed that alumni are more unsure about the interim status and are “anxious to have a sign (from University administration) that says we are moving forward.”

The University will not begin any other dean searches until the current three are complete, Kaler said.

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.