College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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Associate Dean for Professional Development & Administration Announced

Date: June 14, 2011

Announcement from Dean Antczak
 
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It's my pleasure to announce to you the selection of the new CLAS Associate Dean for Professional Development and Administration, Shaily Menon. 

Many of you know Shaily Menon as a full Professor of Biology, recent recipient of the university’s service award, and long-time champion of diversity.  Some of you know her from her interdisciplinary scholarship with international reach that involves GIS as well as natural resource management.  Others of you know her from the CLAS Faculty Council or as a Unit Head or in her role last year as chair of the referendum taskforce.  Some of you know her through her role as an inclusion advocate or as a co-PI on an NSF ADVANCE grant to increase participation and advancement of women in science and engineering.  Some of you know her as a familiar face at the CLAS Faculty Research Colloquia, Sabbatical Showcases, and other college events.

You may not know that this speaker of two languages has a working knowledge of four others.  She has been awarded external grants with great consistency over the last 27 years for a total well over $650,000.  These awards show a pattern of internal and external partnerships with great range.  Her over 25 publications and 30 presentations show us a scholar committed to testing her findings publicly and contributing to the wider scholarly conversation, to working with students toward a scholarly product, and to engendering an abiding commitment to our natural environment.

In word and deed, she is a learner: a scientist actively participating in an on-campus writing group; a trained mediator; a proponent of distributed leadership; a champion of professional development for both the faculty and staff; and a seeker after the big picture in her research, her classroom, and her college.

Professor Menon emerged from a pool of very talented applicants with proven leadership and experience as the very best match for the job description.  I’m very grateful to the 19 members of the AD Search Committee (including faculty as well as COT and AP staff), the CLAS Staff Advisory Committee, the College Office Staff, the CLAS Associate Deans, colleagues in the Provost’s Office and Facilities, and the many members of the college and university community who attended the candidates’ presentations and participated in their evaluation.  And I’m particularly thankful to those of you who put yourselves forward for consideration; your applications, and the dedication to the work we all do that those applications represent, are appreciated in and of themselves.  A word about the other finalist, Karen Libman: both the committee and I felt Professor Libman entirely qualified for the position, and I would have been happy to offer it to her and completely confident in her had the selection gone the other way.  I believe Karen will have a role in leadership at our university going forward.  Thanks again to all who applied, and to the many people who participated in the events of the search.

In the coming days, weeks and years, Shaily will need our support as she works with all the members of the College Office to bring all of us in CLAS--all of us--the resources that we all need to flourish, resources tangible and otherwise.  She will need to do her work with the creativity born of necessity; I know she will do that work with energy sustained and buoyed by her devotion to the enterprise of the Liberal Arts and Sciences.  Speaking personally, I will be proud to serve with her.

Shaily will have Jann Joseph to help her for a few days with the unavoidably steep learning curve, will take a month to finish her summer work and get ready, and then as of July 18 will be up to all of us to make her position reach its full potential through our collective insight and collegial participation.  Please join me in warmly welcoming Dean Menon to her new role as CLAS Associate Dean for Professional Development and Administration.

~Fred


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