Fulbright College Names New Leadership Team Members and Responsibilities
With the fall 2022 semester underway, newly appointed interim dean Kathryn Sloan recently introduced several new and returning members of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Office leadership team.
“First of all, I want to say thank you again for welcoming me back to my Fulbright College home as Interim Dean,” Sloan said. “Your support, camaraderie, and confidence in my ability to lead the college during this pivotal time means the world to me. Along with our whole Deans’ Office team, I’m working hard to meet this responsibility.”
“And, as part of that commitment to our college, I’m excited to introduce the new and returning members of our Associate Deans team and to let you know which areas of the college each will be primarily working with as we look to the college’s future and write its next chapter together,” she added.
Sloan said Interim Associate Dean Stephanie Ricker Schulte will serve as administrative liaison between the Dean’s Office and several academic departments, programs, and research centers primarily in the social sciences and humanities, including History, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychological Science, Social Work, Sociology and Criminology, and Economics, as well as the Faulkner Performing Arts Center, International Education, Study Abroad and the college’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
“After serving as chair of the Department of Communication, I am delighted to join the stellar team leading Fulbright College because I have seen up close and personal what a difference the leaders of our college make for our faculty, staff and students,” Schulte said. “I am thrilled for this opportunity to serve and to help ensure our college’s focus on student success, research excellence, and diversity, equity and inclusion continues.”
Interim Associate Dean Christopher Liner will serve as administrative liaison between the Dean’s Office and several academic departments, programs, and research centers primarily in the natural and social sciences, including Anthropology, Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Geosciences, Mathematical Sciences, and Physics, as well as the General Education, Global Campus, and Pre-dental areas.
“It’s a great honor to be able to give back and serve Fulbright College in this new role,” Liner said. “My career started here back in the 1970s when I earned my degree in geology, and it felt like I’d come full circle when I returned to the Department of Geosciences in 2012, and even more so when I became its department chair. But now, the opportunity to help and have a positive impact on even more of the college’s outstanding students, faculty and staff is just wonderful and I’m very much looking forward to it.”
Interim Associate Dean David McNabb will serve as administrative liaison between the Dean’s Office and several areas, services, and centers, primarily including English, the Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I3R), the Pre-Medical Program, University Museum, and STEM-E, as well as college administrative areas including Workday, Faculty Travel, Facilities Management, Sponsored Programs, Streamlyne, and all college research centers and grants.
“My career focus has always been on helping people, be it through my research and teaching or through my time as an academic leader,” McNabb said. “As an associate dean, my hope is to continue to help our college’s faculty, staff and students to excel, and to provide them with the opportunities, tools and equipment they need to do so. I’m honored for this opportunity to further serve and to work more closely with our Dean’s Office team and am looking forward to another great academic year in Fulbright College.”
Associate Dean Jeannie Hulen will serve as the administrative liaison between the Dean’s Office and several academic departments, programs, and research centers primarily in the fine arts and humanities, including Art, Music, Theatre, Communication, Journalism, World Languages, and area studies including African and African American Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, Middle East Studies, Asian Studies, Religious Studies, Classical Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Indigenous Studies, Jewish Studies, Gender Studies, Data Science, Medical Humanities, American Studies, the Center for Arkansas Regional Studies, the Arkansas Humanities Center, the Terrorism Research Center, the Diane D. Blair Center of Southern Politics and Society, as well as administrative areas including Intersession, Small Classes, Summer Teaching, and the Undergraduate Council.
“We’re always working on amazing, interdisciplinary, world-bettering projects and initiatives in Fulbright College, and this year is no exception,” Hulen said. “I’m also excited about the upcoming opening of our new Windgate Studio and Design Center. It will be a beautiful facility – but also so much more. It will be a home to our students, a home to the School of Art and a home to our community. And it will be a vibrant hub where teaching, research and outreach will intersect in ways that will benefit us all for years to come.”
Hulen and Schulte are also temporarily covering areas normally served by Associate Dean Calvin White, Jr., who is on a research appointment this semester and will resume his Dean’s Office responsibilities in January.
Additionally, Associate Dean Anna Zajicek is currently serving as the U of A’s Interim Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.
“Our college truly is the academic heart and soul of the U of A, and together we are poised to have a remarkable positive impact on our students, community, and beyond as we embody our college’s mission of ‘peace through education.’” Sloan said. “It’s inspiring, exciting, and often times hard work, and I’m excited we’re in it together!”
“If I, our Associate Deans, or others in the Dean’s Office can help in any way, please reach out and let us know,” she added.