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NEW DEAN APPROVED FOR IU SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS AT IUPUI
INDIANAPOLIS -- Internationally renowned philosopher and medical ethics expert Herman J. Saatkamp Jr. has been named dean of the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).
The appointment was approved by the IU trustees at their meeting today May 8 in Bloomington.
Saatkamp is the current professor and head of the department of humanities in medicine at the Texas A&M University Health Science Center, College Station, Texas. He replaces John Barlow, who spent 30 years in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, the last 10 years as dean.
Saatkamp will hold appointments in the IU School of Liberal Arts as professor of philosophy and in the IU School of Medicine as professor of medical humanities and professor of medical and molecular genetics. He will begin Aug. 1.
IUPUI Chancellor Gerald L. Bepko said that Saatkamp's appointment comes at a time when the campus is positioned to move to a new level of quality and engagement and examine how best it can prosper in the professional school environment found there.
"Herman Saatkamp has made many contributions to higher education in his career," Bepko said. "We are fortunate to have a noted philosopher who can lead our excellent School of Liberal Arts and help us increase collaboration in the medical sciences through his work in medical ethics and genetics."
The IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI serves around 1,500 students at the 27,000-student IUPUI campus and grants associate through master's-level degrees. Programs include English, foreign languages, political science, economics, religious studies, sociology, anthropology, communication, geography, history and philanthropic studies.
Saatkamp's fields of expertise and interest are in medical ethics and genetics, American philosophy, ethical theory and genetic explanations of complex human behavior. His publications include nine books and more than 50 articles.
Saatkamp is general editor of The Works of George Santayana, a 20-volume critical edition published by MIT Press and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Four of the series' volumes have been published: Persons and Places, The Sense of Beauty, Interpretations of Poetry and Religion and The Last Puritan.
Saatkamp also is general editor of The Vanderbilt Library of American Philosophy, a series focusing on the history of and contemporary developments in American thought.
He serves on many national and international boards and organizations, and is the president of the Association for Documentary Editing, the chair of the Texas Committee for the Humanities, and a member of several local community service and cultural boards.
"I was convinced to accept the position of dean at IUPUI by the quality of the faculty and their commitment to scholarship and academic integrity," Saatkamp said. "Becoming a part of one of the major urban university campuses in the United States is invigorating.
"I look forward to a cooperative approach to advancing the scholarship of faculty and students at IUPUI," he added.
Prior to joining Texas A&M University in 1985 as head of the department of philosophy and humanities, Saatkamp chaired the humanities division and was the Dana Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tampa. He joined the Tampa faculty in 1970.
He received his doctorate in 1972 from Vanderbilt University. Other earned degrees include a master of arts from Vanderbilt, a master of divinity from Southern Theological Seminary and a bachelor of arts from Carson-Newman College.
(Marshall Collins, 317-274-7711)