The first of three finalists was interviewed on campus Tuesday for the vacant College of Fine Arts dean position.
The position has been open since previous dean Charles McWeeny returned to teaching in March 2012. Madeleine Scott, director for the School of Dance and interim director for the School of Theater, has been serving as interim dean.
Jean Miller, associate dean of administrative affairs for the College of Fine Arts of the University of North Texas, will be interviewing Nov. 27 and 28.
“I am impressed with Ohio University’s core values and guiding principles and commitment to transformative education and the arts,” she said in her cover letter. “It would be a privilege to join the OU community.”
Miller earned her master’s degree at Harvard University and has served as the dean of University of North Texas’ Toulouse Graduate School.
Ronald Shields, professor in the Department of Theatre and Film in the Wolfe Center for the Arts at Bowling Green State University will be on campus Dec. 3 and 4.
Shields stressed his commitment to easing the college’s combination of the schools of theater, film and dance, a change that was approved at the Nov. 16 Board of Trustees meeting.
“The dean’s office will work with the office and staff to work out the policies and communication to get that reconfiguration process resolved so that we do what we ought to be doing,” Shields said.
Shields oversaw the construction of Bowling Green State’s Wolfe Center for the Arts, a $42 million project.
Margaret Kennedy-Dygas, associate dean in the College of the Arts and professor of music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, will be on campus interviewing Dec. 4–6.
Kennedy-Dygas cited her teaching experience as beneficial when making budget decisions and said she believes it would be a valuable skill when overseeing OU’s Responsibility Centered Management budget transition.
“I know what life is like in the trenches, and I have taught courses and so on in my present position,” Kennedy-Dygas said. “I have a sense of what students go through, and the last few years have been such a huge challenge, and we’re not seeing the end of it yet.”
Kennedy-Dygas has also served as a professor of music and chair of the music department at Hope College in Holland, Mich.
Scott said she chose not to apply after serving as interim, because she is looking to retire soon.
sj950610@ohiou.edu
