Four appointments in the academic vice president's office at Brigham Young University have rounded out BYU's new administrative organization.
Named as associate academic vice presidents were James R. Kearl, J. Bevan Ott and Dennis L. Thompson. Named as assistant academic vice president was L. Robert Webb.The appointees take office immediately and answer to Stan L. Albrecht, academic vice president and associate provost.
Kearl is responsible for undergraduate programs and curriculum and for the university's international activities, including the Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies and the David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies.
Ott has been assigned graduate programs, curriculum and research and technology transfer activities.
Thompson is responsible for faculty hiring and review and for faculty development.
Webb is in charge of continuing education and related off-campus programs and for academic support, including libraries and academic computing.
Kearl is a former dean of general and honors education and most recently served as an associate academic vice president. He is a professor of economics and law and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
He earned his doctorate in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and did postdoctoral work at Harvard University in economics and law.
Ott has served as chairman of the chemistry department since 1980 and is the Joseph K. Nicholes professor of chemistry at BYU. He obtained his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, and taught at Utah State University before joining the BYU faculty in 1960.
Thompson is a professor of political science and has been chairman of the political science department since 1983. He earned his doctorate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and taught at the University of Arizona, the University of Utah and State University of New York at Binghamton before joining the BYU faculty in 1977.
Webb has been an assistant academic vice president since 1978 and before that was an administrative assistant to the academic vice president. He joined the BYU administration in 1966, serving first as director of high school relations and then director of financial aids.
Webb earned his master's degree in public administration from BYU in 1965.