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Both Syracuse University’s Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and the School of Information Studies are engaging in an active search for new permanent deans.

SU’s Vice Chancellor, Provost and Chief Academic Officer Gretchen Ritter announced advisory committees had been appointed for both dean searches in respective SU news releases for Falk and the iSchool on Feb. 23.

David Seaman, dean of SU Libraries and university librarian, has served as the iSchool’s interim dean since May 2022, succeeding Raj Dewan. Seaman also previously served as the interim dean in 2019 following Liz Liddy’s retirement.

Falk’s current dean Diane Murphy, whose tenure as dean began in 2005, will retire at the end of the 2023 academic year. Murphy also received her bachelor’s and masters’ degrees from SU. In total, Murphy worked at SU for over 40 years.

During her deanship, Murphy oversaw the expansion of Falk from its earlier iterations, the implementation of the sports management and sports analytics programs and co-authored SU’s sexual harassment policy.

Falk’s future dean will navigate the school’s new joint degree program in esports with the Newhouse School of Public Communications. Ritter also wrote in the release that she is working on a task force to grow Falk’s sports management program from a department into a school.

Seaman also saw new majors implemented during his time as interim dean. The school launched two new majors — applied data analytics and innovation, society and technology — in August 2022. Although officially announced in April 2021, the majors were first populated by students in the class of 2026. The two majors expanded the iSchool’s degree offerings from one to three when first announced.

The search for the two deans comes as two other SU schools are also set to transition to newly selected deans. On Tuesday, SU announced new appointments for both the College of Arts and Sciences and School of Education. Behzad Mortavazi will come to SU from the University of Alabama to lead the College of Arts and Sciences, while Kelly Chandler-Olcott will transition from interim to permanent dean in the School of Education.

Published on March 9, 2023 at 2:13 am

Contact Stephanie: spwright@syr.edu