The University will announce the next dean of the College of Arts and Sciences today, after the Board of Governors' meeting ends, in an email to students and staff.
The new dean will be officially presented in a press conference Friday at 1 p.m., said Executive Vice Provost Ron Strauss, who led the search committee to find the new dean.
Strauss said the committee gave its recommendation to Provost Jim Dean, and the final decision came down to Dean and Chancellor Carol Folt.
“It was an amazing experience for me it gave me confidence in doing searches in an open and transparent manner. I feel like we found an outstanding group of finalists and ultimately an exceptional dean," Strauss said.
“By having a true national pool of candidates we can be sure that the person who is dean will have met the stature of a competitive search."
The new dean will take Karen Gil's place as the head of the college. Gil announced she would step down last November after leading the college for five years.
Gil originally intended to leave her post in May, but agreed to stay on until January of 2016 so the search committee could have more time.
The University announced the five finalists for the position in September, and all five held open forums for faculty and students to attend.
The finalists are: William Easterling; Keith Whitfield; Kevin Guskiewicz; Kim Barrett; and Laurie Maffly-Kipp.
