Finalists for dean of Grad College to visit Central

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Finalists for the position of assistant
vice president for Sponsored Research and dean of the College of Graduate
Studies will visit campus during the next two weeks.
Carole Beere vacated the position in mid-August to
take over as vice president of Academic Affairs at Walden University
in Minneapolis, Minn.
Gail Scukanec, former associate dean of the college,
has served in the interim position since then and said she was unsure
of what her next move will be.
Provost Richard Davenport said Scukanec has retreat
rights back to the associate dean position.
Davenport said he thought Terry Rawls, who is currently
serving as interim associate dean of the college, will either go back
to the counseling and special education department, where he was formerly
department chair, or find another position within the university.
Rawls could not be reached for comment.
“I think we have a really good pool of finalists.
We have scheduled five interviews with candidates from various institutions
around the country and all five of them look pretty good,” Davenport
said.
“The real test is when we bring them to campus and
have an opportunity to evaluate them in terms of sitting in at CMU.
(We will) evaluate them in terms of leadership.”
Davenport said there were internal candidates that
applied, but none made it as finalists.
“The dean provides the academic leadership for graduate
education,” Davenport said. “The other component … is to provide assistance
and direction to faculty in the area of sponsored research which really
means research funded externally to the institution, externally by other
agencies and corporations.
“Obviously it is much, much more complex. But generally
speaking, the dean provides oversight to the graduate council, a curricular
body for all graduate programs,” he said. “The dean sits on that council
and any new grad programs we develop have to go through that body.
“One of the major goals that we will have for the
new dean will be to increase the amount of external funding for sponsored
research.”
Bob Kohrman, dean of the College of Science and Technology,
chaired the search committee.
“He’s done an outstanding job of moving the search
process along at a very quick pace,” Davenport said. “We hope to bring
a person on board by June 30, July 1.”
The following is a list obtained from a press release
of finalists and the dates and times for the forums, which are open
to the public – all of which will take place in the Bovee University
Center:

• Janett Trubatch – 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in the President’s
  Conference Room. Trubatch is treasurer of the board of directors
  and interim deputy director for Muldoon Community Development Corp.,
  located in Anchorage, Alaska.
• James Weber – 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the President’s
  Conference Room. Weber is a educational psychology professor and
  associate dean for research development at Mississippi State University
  where, since 1993, he has directed a multi-million dollar research
  and development program for the College of Education.
• James Hageman – 4:30 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Lake St.
  Clair Room. Hageman heads the chemistry and biochemistry department
  at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, a position he has
  held since 1992.
• Elaine Collins – 4:30 p.m. March 1 in Terrace Room
  A. Collins has been serving as interim vice president for Academic
  Affairs at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, previously North
  Adams State College, located in North Adams, Mass. She is responsible
  for all academic programs, budgets, personnel and faculty.
• Thomas Kent – 4:30 p.m. March 2 in the President’s
  Conference Room. Kent is chair of the English department at Iowa
  State University in Ames, Iowa, where he manages six curricular
  areas and oversees a $5.4 million departmental budget.