Schools search for deans

The university announced Friday the search for permanent deans for the Tyler School of Art and the Beasley School of Law is now officially underway.

The Tyler School of Art is on track to name a dean within the coming months after being temporarily halted because of the change in administration during the summer. The committee in charge of finding a dean for Tyler will pick up where it left off, actively reviewing candidates. This will ultimately result in a visit to Main Campus before the end of Fall 2016.

Vicki Lewis McGarvey, the vice provost for Temple’s University College, is responsible for staffing Tyler.

“We could be looking for a scholar, a Ph.D. in art history who’s a very traditional academic,” McGarvey said. “We could be looking at candidates who are artists, but are very accomplished and well-reviewed artists and teachers who might be less of a traditional academic but have the vision and other qualities to lead the school.”

The law school is still forming its search committee. Once formed, the committee will produce ads and a position profile in conjunction with a search firm. During Fall 2016, the search committee will develop a pool of candidates. A new dean is expected to be hired in Spring 2017.

“We’re looking for individuals that understand not only the mission of the particular school but also Temple’s mission,” said Jodi Levine Laufgraben, vice provost for Academic Affairs, Assessment and Institutional Research. “We’re looking for deans that understand the challenges as well as the opportunities in that discipline or in each of the respective colleges that we’re searching for.”

Laufgraben said Temple uses a standard process to hire deans. Approximately eight to 12 candidates will be reviewed by the search committee and narrowed down. The remaining four to five candidates will have on-campus visits, similar to the ones held in Spring 2016 during the search for a dean for the College of Liberal Arts. After the campus visits, the committee evaluates each candidate based on the strengths and weaknesses they saw.

Student and faculty feedback is encouraged, Laufgraben said. The provost website features candidate information during the finalist phase and TUportal provides on campus visit dates and candidate profiles.

Haley Proctor can be reached at haley.proctor@temple.edu.