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News Release

Last modified: Monday, November 29, 2010

Candidates named for dean position with IU College of Arts and Sciences

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 29, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- An Indiana University Bloomington search committee has recommended five finalists for the position of dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and campus visits by the candidates will begin this week.

The five candidates include:

• Robert A. Becker, executive associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of economics at IU Bloomington
• Joan Herbers, professor of evolution, ecology and organismal biology and former dean of the College of Biological Sciences at The Ohio State University
• Catherine A. Pilachowski, associate dean for graduate education of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor and Kirkwood Chair in astronomy, IU Bloomington
• Greg B. Simpson, professor of psychology and former interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Kansas
• Larry D. Singell, associate dean for social sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of economics, University of Oregon

"The next dean of the College has the opportunity to promote arts and sciences at IU Bloomington and personally contribute to the advancement of a major international research university," said Russell Hanson, chair of the search committee and professor and chair of the Department of Political Science. "We're pleased to present five candidates with the vision, skills and experience needed to meet this extraordinary challenge. Now it is time for them to learn more about us, and for us to identify the person whose leadership will best serve the research, teaching, and service missions of the College."

Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson appointed the search committee to identify and recommend candidates to succeed Bennett I. Bertenthal, Rudy Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, who resigned as dean of the College in March 2010. David Zaret, professor in the Department of Sociology, serves as interim dean.

Each candidate will take part in more than a full day of meetings at IU Bloomington with administrators, faculty, staff and students. Public forums are scheduled Tuesday (Nov. 30) for Becker, Thursday (Dec. 2) for Herbers, Dec. 6 for Singell and Dec. 8 for Simpson, all from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union. The forum for Pilachowski will be at 2 p.m. on Dec. 10, also at Whittenberger Auditorium.

Becker has been executive associate dean of the IU College of Arts and Sciences since 2006. He has been a faculty member in the Department of Economics since 1976; he chaired the department from 1996-2002. His research fields include capital theory, general equilibrium theory and game theory. He has a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Rochester.

Herbers has been a professor at Ohio State since 2002 and was dean of the College of Biological Sciences from 2002-08. Prior to that, she was professor and chair of the biology department at Colorado State University. A researcher who studies the evolution and ecology of ants, she is president of the Association for Women in Science. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Dayton and master's and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University.

Pilachowski has been associate dean of the IU College of Arts and Sciences since 2009 and previously was interim dean of women's affairs and chair of the Department of Astronomy. As a researcher, she investigates the evolution of stars and the chemical history of the Milky Way Galaxy from studies of chemical composition of stars and star clusters. She came to IU in 2001 from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. She has a bachelor's degree from Harvey Mudd College and master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Hawaii.

Simpson was interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Kansas in 2009-10 and was acting associate dean in 2005-06. He chaired the Department of Psychology for 10 years. He has been at Kansas since 1991 and previously was at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He conducts research on cognitive development, including word recognition processes. He has a bachelor's degree from University of the Pacific, a master's from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.

Singell has been a faculty member in the Department of Economics at the University of Oregon since 1988. He chaired the department from 2006-08 and has been dean for social sciences of the College of Arts and Sciences since 2008. His research areas include labor economics and the economics of higher education. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado and master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California-Santa Barbara.

The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest academic division of Indiana University. In addition to being the academic home of more than 10,000 students, it provides course work for most students in other schools at IU Bloomington. It includes 70 degree-granting departments and programs, which have 875 tenured or tenure-track faculty members and 2,900 graduate students enrolled in 27 master's and Ph.D. programs. For more information see https://www.indiana.edu/~college/.

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