The College of Communication and Fine Arts has interviewed its first — and only — candidate for associate dean.

Al Wildey, interim associate dean for CCFA, is the lone name for the permanent position, said Jane Matty, interim Dean of the College of Science and Technology.

If other finalists are identified, the committee will make them known, she said.

Darby Gwisdala, special assistant to the provost, said a scheduling conflict prompted Wildey’s open forum last Monday in Moore Hall.

“Mr. Wildey is going to be out of the country due to a prior commitment, hence the scheduling of his interview (last) week,” she said.

Diane Krider, former associate dean of CCFA, was interim dean for CCFA when Sue Ann Martin retired from the position in December 2008.

Krider did not return to the associate dean position after Salma Ghanem became CCFA dean Aug. 3. Krider returned as a faculty member.

She declined comment on the subject.

The search committee hopes to have more information about the search next semester.

Wildey’s plan for CCFA

Wildey said there are a number of issues he is interested in, one being the development of a strategic plan for CCFA.

“The college has never had a working strategic plan,” Wildey said. “That was something highly desirable to me and something we needed to do.”

The reaction was positive by the few faculty and staff who attended the Monday forum.

Art professor Sally Rose liked that Wildey said he would include all voices when gathering information and making decisions.

“It is my desire that he does not add filters to the information gathered,” Rose said.

The College of Communication and Fine Arts is something Wildey views as the center of what happens around the university.

During the forum, Wildey explained how the CCFA is a very diverse college with different approaches of doing one thing — communicating. It is done by an interpretive dance, something that is visual in the arts, or even the topical discussion in journalism.

“We are all storytellers,” Wildey said. “There is a narrative involved in whatever is we do.”

Wildey said he wants the other colleges at CMU to know the CCFA is not only a study in an abstract art or entertainment. In all the studies in the college, there are highly-engaged activities.

“We are right at the core of what it means to be human beings,” Wildey said. “That requires high levels of commitment and research to be successful.”

E-mail the author: Lonnie Allen