Four new deans presented at annual “A Light on the Hill” convocation

With new faces in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ administration this year, students can expect changes and a fresh look at CHaSS.

Four new deans took office for the college at the outset of this school year, including Dean Joseph Ward, who replaced the college’s former dean of nearly six years, John Allen.

Three associate deans, formally introduced at the college’s annual “A Light on the Hill” convocation ceremony, will assist Ward in his duties. These include Evelyn Funda, an associate professor from the English department; Eric Reither, professor of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology; and Matthew Sanders, associate professor of Languages, Philosophy and Communication Studies. Their new titles will be associate dean of graduate studies, associate dean of research, and associate dean of undergraduate studies, respectively.

Fire dancer Joe Ka’ili performs at the annual Light on the Hill event hosted by CHASS on August 30. (Photo by Matt Halton)

For Reither, a position as associate dean means continuing to build on the work of his predecessors and to “continue providing great research opportunities for our faculty and students.”

Sanders expressed hopes of recruiting more students to the college and of getting “more students in the college excited about their programs and seeing the possibilities and then retaining more students overall at the university.”

“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to rethink who we are as a college and to start fresh and take things in new directions,” Funda said.

For her, this includes ambitions of recruiting a more diverse and varied population of graduate students, as well as helping existing students feel valued.

“At the college level, we’re kind of in transition,” Funda said.

Part of this transition will include identifying what programs are working well and how those programs’ policies can be implemented across the college, as well as identifying programs that need help.

Help for some programs, Ward said, could include initiatives that “may help [the college] to gain some additional space.”

“As we grow our faculty and our programs, there are some departments where things are really tight, so we need to help the faculty have really good work spaces,” Ward said.

Ward said his goal at the outset of the year, however, is to take time to meet CHaSS faculty and students and to “really try to get a sense of what the common goals are.”

“I’ve just been so impressed by the excitement of the faculty,” Ward said. “This is a college filled with faculty members who love teaching and love working with students, so we want to just keep encouraging it.”

CHaSS senator Jacie Rex said she’s excited to see what progress the new administration will make.

“We have very strong faculty,” Rex said. “I think as long as you have people who are willing to stick out their neck and do better things, you’re going to get those results.”

Students and professors each light candles to welcome the new school year at the Light on the Hill on August 30. (Photo by Matt Halton)