Members of the College of Education Dean's Search Committee are scheduled to begin screening candidates to form a "long short list" of those applying to fill the College's top leadership position when Dean Yeany steps down on Aug. 31, 1999. The closing date for applications and nominations has been extended to Jan. 28, 1999. The committee may schedule off-campus interviews with candidates who make the list over the next two months.

The committee, appointed by Provost Karen Holbrook, is charged with identifying possible successors to Russell Yeany, who has announced that he will step down Aug. 31 after six years as dean. 

A "short list" of three to five unranked candidates will be invited for interviews on-campus between mid-March to early April. It is from this short list which Holbrook and UGA President Michael Adams will select a new dean.

The 16-member committee includes two deans: Sharon Nickols, dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, who is chairing the panel, and Wyatt Anderson, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Nickols says the goal is to have a new dean chosen by the start of the next academic year.

"Dean Yeany has provided superior leadership for the College of Education," Nickols says. "We intend to find a new dean who has the same quality of leadership skills and vision and will keep the college on its trajectory of excellence."

A.T. Kearney, a search firm specializing in higher education placements has been engaged by the University to assist the search committee. Kearney consultant Shelly Storbeck has worked with the University before - on the Provost search.

The search firm will actively recruit nominations, communicate with nominees and facilitate the interviewing process. Kearney has a very extensive network of higher education leaders and has a very good track record of recruiting diverse and strong candidates. About one-third of the placements with which they have worked have been women and people of color.

Ads for the position appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Black Issues in Higher Education, and various disciplinary and professional web sites in late November.

In an effort to inform and solicit input from the COE's faculty and staff, the search committee also held three forums in late November - one at Aderhold Hall, another at River's Crossing and the last at the Ramsey Center. Each meeting was attended by at least two dozen people.

Other faculty members on the committee include Carl Glickman, professor of social foundations of education; Jeremy Kilpatrick, professor of mathematics education; Cheri Hoy, professor of adult education; Joan Buttram, associate professor of dance; Rosemary Phelps, assistant professor of counseling and human resources; Rod Dishman, professor of exercise science; David Kurtz, professor of social work; Lew Allen, co-director of the League of Professional Schools and Jerome Morris, assistant professor of ESS/social foundations of education.

Other members of the committee include Shea Ray, chair of the Staff Representative Group in the college; Glenda Eades, a budget analyst and office manager in the college; John Gillespie, a graduate student in occupational studies; Meredith David, an undergraduate student majoring in communication science and disorders; and Barbara Wright, principal of Barrow Elementary School and president of the college's alumni group.

- Michael Childs (mchilds@coe.uga.edu)

(12-16-98)