New deans appointed across campus

By Tiffany Blanchette

Three colleges at the university will undergo new leadership July 1 as their dean positions are filled, and Library Affairs will follow with a change in administration July 16.

The College of Applied Sciences and Arts, the College of Education and Human Services, and Library Affairs will be led by new deans while an interim dean will lead the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts.

Ju An Wang, an administrator and researcher from Southern Polytechnic State University, has been named dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts effective July 1.

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Wang, a professor and chair of the Department of Information Technology at SPSU, will replace interim dean Terry A. Owens, who has served in the position since 2009.

Wang earned a doctorate in computer science from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a master’s degree in Computer Science from Changsha Institute of Technology in Changsha, China and a bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics with a Computer Science concentration.

For the College of Education and Human Services, Keith B. Wilson from Pennsylvania State University replaces retiring interim dean John Benshoff as the permanent dean effective July 1.

Wilson is a professor of counselor education and rehabilitation education and a former research center director at Penn State.

He earned his doctorate in education at Ohio State University, a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from Kent State University and a bachelor’s degree in rehabilitation services from Wilberforce University. Wilson has also completed post-doctoral studies at Harvard University.

Wilson was previously program chair of rehabilitation programs for four years at Penn State and served as director of the Africana Research Center for two years.

He also received the 2012 Researcher of the Year Award from the National Council of Rehabilitation Educators and operates a private counseling, consultation and psychotherapy practice in Pennsylvania.

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“He shares our priorities of student success, service and outreach, and conducting meaningful research,” Chancellor Rita Cheng said in a press release.

Library Affairs announced Anne Cooper Moore, current dean of libraries for University Libraries at the University of South Dakota, as the new permanent dean effective July 16.

Moore is also an associate professor of educational administration at the University of South Dakota and the director of Wegner Health Sciences Information Center in Sioux Falls, S.D.

She earned her doctorate in educational management and development from New Mexico State University, a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of North Carolina  and a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and English from Duke University. She also worked toward a master’s degree in education at Boston University.

Moore, who has worked more than two decades with university and community college libraries, is also adjunct faculty for the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College of Boston and South Hadley, Mass.

“Dr. Moore’s deep understanding of the role and importance of academic libraries, along with her research and teaching experience, will be of great benefit to the University community,” Chancellor Rita Cheng said in a press release

The radio-television department chair will step into the interim dean position for the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts.

An accomplished scholar, professor and academic journal founding editor, Dafna Lemish will apply her leadership and experience at the college beginning July 1.

Lemish will replace retiring dean Gary Kolb as he finishes his fifth year in the position June 30. Kolb, who has been with MCMA since 1979 as a faculty member in the cinema and photography department, began as interim dean in May 2007 before being named permanent dean in July 2008.

Kolb announced Lemish’s appointment to the chair for the department of radio-television in July 2010, hailing from Tel Aviv University as a professor and department chair of communications.

Lemish’s background and experience will serve her well in the position, Provost John Nicklow said in an email.

Lemish is the founding editor of the “Journal of Children and Media,” an international and interdisciplinary peer-reviewed academic journal she founded in 2007.

A scholar on the media’s role in children’s lives, she has also published seven books and more than 100 journal articles and book chapters in several languages.

Lemish earned her doctorate in communications from Ohio State University, a master’s degree in communications from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a bachelor’s degree in geography from Tel Aviv University.

She was selected as chair in 2010 for radio-television because of her experience in dealing with budgetary challenges similar to those SIUC was facing, Kolb said in a press release.

Lemish will be able to represent the college well as the interim dean while a national, permanent dean search is conducted, Nicklow said in an email.

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