Advertisements for the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities position have been sent out, and there have already been some off-campus inquiries concerning the position, said Mary Anne Hanner, who is chairing the search committee.

James Johnson, the current dean, will officially retire July 1, 2009.

Advertisements were placed in The Chronicle of Higher Education and also listservs for colleges of arts and sciences and colleges of fine arts. They will also be placed in some discipline listservs as well, which committee members will forward information to Hanner.

The committee plans on advertising throughout November, and then application review will begin on Dec. 1.

“When we return after the holidays we hope to, by then, have identified the candidates who will be coming to campus for interviews and do campus interviews from January to mid-February, and hopefully by mid-February have a recommendation to the provost,” said Hanner, dean of College of Sciences.

The appointment for the position is for July 1, 2009.

“We expect there will be a lot of interest about this position. . We have this gem of a new building that is also going to be very attractive for candidates,” Hanner said.

Blair Lord, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said Dean Johnson has ably led the College of Arts and Humanities for many years. He said any successor dean will have a high standard to meet.

“The college is a very strong unit on campus with many excellent programs,” Lord said. “With the new Doudna Center opened and with the established excellence in programs throughout the college, I expect the next dean to lead the college to the next level of accomplishment.”

He said Eastern is moving forward and Lord expects the College of Arts and Humanities to also do so.

“Leadership to achieve this is what I believe we all seek and expect,” Lord said.

The committee chaired by Hanner also includes Nora Pat Small, associate professor of history; Mike Bradd, professor of communication studies; Angela Vietto, assistant professor of English; Glenn Hild, chair of the art department; Jean Wolski, associate professor of theatre arts; Jean Toothman, English office department staff; Marilyn Coles, professor of music; James Ochwa-Echel, African American studies coordinator; and student member Mike McKenna.

Lord, with consultation with the associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities and the department chairs appointed the committee members.

“I then asked for departments to nominate individuals to serve according to the representational plan,” Lord said. “From the names selected, I chose individuals to bring balance to the committee as best as I was able.”

The committee met for the first time last week.

Two sub committees were formed within the search committee.

The candidate evaluation subcommittee will work on candidate evaluation and evaluation forms for telephone interviews, for reference checks, for application evaluation and for campus evaluation used when the candidates come to campus.

The interview coordination subcommittee will be drafting some interview schedules, identifying constituents that need to be included in the interview process and doing other local arrangements for when the committee brings candidates.

The next meeting is Nov. 10.

Lord said a highly participatory process will be used to allow the college faculty, staff and students to provide feedback regarding the candidates chosen to bring to campus for full interviews.

“My goals are to have the committee develop of rich pool of candidates including candidates from diverse background and from that pool identify those who would be the best fit for the College to interview on campus,” Lord said.

Emily Zulz can be reached 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.