For the first time, the dean’s office at the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences reached out to Student Government Association for its help in finding a new dean for that college.
The chosen dean will take the place of Interim Dean Joe Pratt, who was appointed after former Dean John J. Antel was named Provost by UH President and System Chancellor Renu Khator.
“It’s not something that happens year in and year out, but we were approached this year, so we accepted the opportunity and got to interview some of the candidates,” SGA President Kenneth Fomunung said.
From Nov. 2-16, the interviewing process, which was divided into multiple sessions, gave students the opportunity to evaluate five dean candidates.
Former CLASS Sen. TayIor Kilroy said he believes it was important to have students involved in this process because they will be the ones most affected.
“We were looking for someone who has a little bit of administrative experience dealing with not only teaching students but also running an entire college,” Kilroy said. “We looked for folks who can fix problems.”
SGA members were just some of the voices heard in the large pool of people, which also included Antel, Khator, community leaders and CLASS faculty.
Involving students in the interviewing process made SGA members feel confident that they will not be let down.
“After we provided our feedback on the candidates and we evaluated them, I’m pretty sure our comments were significant in the outcome,” Fomunung said.
Antel and CLASS administrators will make the final decision. The date of the decision has not been announced.
