A series of new leadership appointments has been announced for the dean’s office of the new Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.
The new Faculty, encompassing humanities, social sciences and related professional studies, will replace the Faculty of Arts and the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal & Professional Studies on July 1, 2009. A search for its first dean was launched this spring (see YFile, April 30).
The latest announcement, by Vice-President Academic & Provost Sheila Embleton (right), in conjunction with Faculty of Arts Dean Robert Drummond and Atkinson Dean Rhonda Lenton, follows an earlier round of appointments in June (see YFile, June 23).
“Now virtually all of the LA&PS staff leadership team are in place, and they will increasingly take charge of the project to build the new Faculty as they await the new dean,” Embleton said.
In a circular, Embleton noted: “Much has happened since the time of our first announcement. There has been a further refinement of the organizational structure of the dean’s office. And we have finalized the next group of CPM [Confidential, Professional & Managerial] colleagues who will be in the various positions.”
Here are the new appointments:
Althea Gordon, currently executive assistant (policy adviser) to the Atkinson dean, will support the Office of the Dean.
Pauline Marwan (for financial operations) and Ursula Rieger (for financial analysis) will head the Finance Office. Marwan and Rieger are currently financial officers in, respectively, the Faculty of Arts and Atkinson.
Jointly, Victoria Caparello and Marina De Bona-Ross will support Jane Daines, named earlier to lead Continuing Education. Caparello is currently business manager and De Bona-Ross program & logistics manager in Atkinson’s Division of Continuing Education.
Sharon McLeod, currently tenure & promotion manager in the Faculty of Arts, will support Lesa Cozzi, named earlier to lead the Office of Faculty Council.
Elizabeth Alexander, Monika Chewinski, Aneta Gasiorowska and Andrew Herlihey will support Dawn Richards, named earlier to lead Human Resources. Alexander and Chewinski are currently personnel advisers in the Faculty of Arts; Gasiorowska and Herlihey are human resources advisers in Atkinson.
Christine Burnell as academic resource officer will support Mario Verrilli, named earlier to lead the Enrolment Management and Data Analysis unit. The unit is already running and currently working on the development of an academic resource system to track full- and part-time teaching resources. Burnell is currently academic resource officer in Atkinson.
Maureen Boettcher and William Woolrich, currently field education coordinator and graduate program coordinator, respectively, in the Atkinson School of Social Work, will support the School of Social Work in LA&PS.
The new Information Technology unit will be headed by Joseph da Silva, currently director of Atkinson’s Office of Computing Technology & e-Learning Services (OCTES), and supported by a team consisting of Judy Collins Currell, currently finance & administration manager for Academic Technology Services (ATS) in the Faculty of Arts; Eric Mohan, ATS computing services manager; Amalia Syligardakis, OCTES e-learning services manager; Larry Turkish, ATS academic support services manager; and Yossi Zaidfeld, OCTES operations manager.
The IT unit has developed a model that expands upon existing cooperation and collaboration between York’s Computing & Network Services (CNS) and local IT units, with the goals of common-cause and shared success. The model recognizes that the size of the new Faculty is such that most services used within it will be of a scale that demands a close alignment between the direction of the Faculty and the services/technologies supported by CNS. To facilitate the new shared service model, Mohit Sahni, currently ATS director, will join CNS in a director role for service management and delivery.
In the area of student, alumni and community relations, the student experience working group presented their recommendation to create a Centre for Student Success. The centre is conceived as being a lively, welcoming environment with ongoing advising and programming to support student success. It will have two primary offices: the Office for New Students, headed by Dan Rothnie, currently director of the Student Academic Centre (SAC), Faculty of Arts, and the Office for Continuing Students, headed by Carolyn Edgecombe, currently director of Atkinson’s Office of Student & Academic Services (OSAS).
Supporting the centre will be a team consisting of Claire Barrett-Coppin, currently OSAS operations manager; Laura Colabufo, SAC operations manager; Carmela DiNiro, SAC student intake & publications manager; and Shirley Gossack, special projects manager for Atkinson Student & Alumni Relations. Associated with the centre will be the Office of Student Responsibility & Academic Success supported by Mathew Harper, student relations manager in the Faculty of Arts. Experiential Education will be supported by Geoff Webb, currently experiential education manager for Atkinson. The executive director of the centre will be named at a future time.
Current research officers Janet Friskney of the Faculty of Arts, Kay Li of Atkinson and Nadya Martin of Arts have been appointed as research officers for LA&PS. The research working group is currently reviewing best practices at leading research institutions and will be consulting with York researchers to develop a draft report to provide recommendations for research support for the incoming dean.
For further background, see the organization chart for the dean’s office at the LA&PS Web site.