Searches launched for SPHHS dean and vice chancellor for Research

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

Fred Byron: Retiring

he campus has begun to search for a new vice chancellor for Research and for a dean of the School of Public Health and Health Services, interim Provost Charlena Seymour told the Faculty Senate at its Sept. 19 meeting.

     Interim Vice Chancellor for Research Fred Byron is slated to retire at the end of the year, and Stephen Gehlbach, dean of SPHHS, plans to step down as of July 1 to return to teaching, Seymour said in a subsequent interview.

     Seymour said she hopes to have both positions filled by July 1, particularly the vice chancellorship, and "we're definitely looking for someone to start by Sept. 1," she said of the dean's post.
Seymour said the search committees are in place, with the exception of student positions on the vice chancellor committee, and that both committees would have met by the end of this week.

     "I think that it's time to stabilize the campus, and the pivotal point of stability is at the level of the deans," she said of her decision to fill the upcoming SPHHS vacancy right away, rather than appointing an interim leader. "From here on out we will search for permanent deans."

Stephen Gehlbach: Back to faculty

     Seymour said she expects to run additional searches next year to fill positions in the academic area currently held by interim appointees.

     Computer Science Department chair Bruce Croft is heading up the vice chancellor search. Committee members include Jaymie Chernoff, assistant vice chancellor for Industry Liaison and Economic Development; Libraries director Margo Crist; professor Donald Fisher, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering; Anthropology professor Laurie Godfrey; Deborah Good, assistant professor, Veterinary and Animal Sciences; Psychology professor Jerrold Meyer; Tom O'Brien, dean of the Isenberg School of Management; Steve Sireci, associate professor, Educational Policy, Research and Administration (EPRA); Linguistics professor Peggy Speas; Peter Tamas, doctoral student in EPRA; Stella Volpe, associate professor of Nutrition; Phil Westmoreland, professor, Chemical Engineering; Nathaniel Whitaker, associate professor, Mathematics and Statistics; Cleve Willis, dean of the College of Food and Natural resources; Christopher Woodcock, chair of the Biology Department; and Jeanine Young-Mason, professor of Nursing.

     Exercise Science professor Patty Freedson is chairing the SPHHS dean search. Also serving on the committee are Biology professor Willy Bemis; Mokhtar Attalah, associate professor of Nutrition; Lisa Chasan-Taber, assistant professor, Biostatistics and Epidemiology; undergraduate Nutrition major Kathryn Baron; Communication Disorders professor Richard Freyman; Michael Begay, associate professor, Community Health Studies; Jesse Ortiz, professor of Environmental Health Sciences; Steve Black, graduate student in Exercise Science; Leon Osterweil, interim dean, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics; and Eileen Breslin, dean, School of Nursing.