It could take longer than expected for the School of Information Studies to find a permanent dean after negotiations with a top candidate fell through during the summer, said Vice Chancellor Eric Spina, who oversaw the search committee, in an e-mail. The top candidate cited a personal issue and could not take the position.

In the spring, Syracuse University announced a group of four finalists to replace Raymond von Dran, who announced his plans to retire in September 2006 and passed away on July 23.

The search for a replacement is expected to last one year, Spina said. He added that several of the university’s current deans resulted from searches longer than one year.

Spina would not say which of the four finalists was chosen, but he added the three others are not currently being considered. Two were not deemed a good fit for SU, and one withdrew his or her application.

The group included deans of iSchools at the universities of Pittsburgh and Texas, as well as a department chair at Indiana University and the founding director of EDUCAUSE, a non-profit group dedicated to advancing higher education through technology.

The committee, headed by Mitch Wallerstein, dean of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, has returned to its nationwide search, Spina said.

‘The search committee is working to expand the pool of high-quality candidates and identify a small number to come to campus,’ Spina said. He expects the group to tour campus later this semester.

‘We are attempting to move forward more rapidly because the search has already been public,’ Spina said.

He added that another nationwide search is not a backward step. ‘You have to be certain when you select a dean, and we want to do this in a deliberate manner. It is quite common that these searches take more than a year,’ Spina said.

In the meantime, Spina appointed Elizabeth Liddy IST’s interim dean.

Liddy’s commitment to the research wing of IST reflects her position as director of IST’s center for natural language processing, a research center to develop software that understands how humans use language to bridge the gap between the machine and the user.

Her primary goal, Liddy said, is to develop the school’s research programs so they can match IST’s educational successes.

She takes the helm at a time when the school is still recovering from the loss of von Dran, who was set to retire Aug. 12 but died unexpectedly after contracting pneumonia in July.

Liddy was trained by von Dran before his death and was appointed to the position in late June.

‘Excepting the difficulties, it seems the school has really pulled together exceptionally,’ Liddy said.

In one of her first moves, the interim dean created the position of associate dean of research and appointed professor Jeffrey Stanton.

While von Dran was supportive of research centers, Liddy said her ‘stamp’ on the school will be the emphasis on research.

Liddy taught graduate courses in information retrieval, natural language processing and data mining. She is also the faculty advisor of the student group, Women in Information Technology.

Published on August 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm