On Tuesday, Jan. 21, Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Faculty Development Dr. Bonnie Ferri announced that the search committee for finding the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts’ next dean had condensed their pool to the four best candidates: Dr. Cameron Thies of Arizona State University (ASU), Dr. Carolyn Thomas of the University of California (UC), Davis, Dr. Kate Drowne of Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T) and Georgia Tech’s own Dr. Kaye Husbands Fealing.
As of Jan. 27, Dr. Carolyn Tomas, Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education at UC Davis and professor of American Studies chose to withdraw from the selection process. The remaining three will qualify for the position as planned.
According to Dr. Ferri’s email, in the last week of January and the first two weeks of February, the three candidates will each host “an open seminar addressing their broad vision for the humanities and social sciences at Tech. The hour-long seminars are open to all students, faculty and staff. Interested individuals can attend in person, watch real-time via livestream or watch a post-event video of each candidate presentation.” All three seminars will be in CULC 152 at 12:15 p.m. on their respective dates, included below. Readers can view these livestreams, as well as individual candidate profiles, at https://provost.gatech.edu/ivan-allen-college-liberal-arts-dean-search. The surveys will be available until Feb. 14 at midnight.
Dr. Cameron Thies is currently a professor and the director of the School of Politics and Global Studies at ASU. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from ASU and a M.A. in Political Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. According to his ASU faculty bio, his research is in “statebuilding in the developing world, interstate and civil conflict, international trade, and international relations theory.” He is also on the editorial board for the journal Foreign Policy Analysis. His seminar took place on Monday, Jan. 27.
Dr. Kate Drowne is currently the interim dean of Missouri S&T’s College of Arts, Sciences, and Business, as well as the director of the university’s Center for Science, Technology, and Society in addition to being a professor of English. She holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a M.A. in English from the University of Connecticut. According to her Missouri S&T faculty bio, her research is in the “intersection of literature and popular culture in the American 1920s and beyond.” Her seminar will take place on Feb. 10.
Dr. Kaye Husbands Fealing is a professor and the chair of Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Harvard University and a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. According to her faculty bio, her specialties are “science and innovation policy, the public value of research expenditures, and the underrepresentation of underserved groups in STEM fields and workforce.” She received the 2017 Trailblazer Award from the National Medical Association Council on Concerns of Women Physicians, and she once served as an economics program director at the National Science Foundation. Her seminar will take place on Feb. 3.
The search for a new Ivan Allen College dean began in September of 2019 when Dr. Jacqueline Royster stepped down from the position after having occupied the office since 2010. Dr. John Tone currently serves as interim dean in the meantime.