Utah
State University announced the appointment of two new deans to head
colleges created by the split of the College of Humanities, Arts &
Social Sciences (HASS) Friday.
Craig
Jessop, former director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was named the
founding dean of the new Caine College of the Arts. Jessop, a USU
alumni, worked for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for nine years before
joining the faculty at Utah State in 2008.
John
C. Allen, former associate dean of HASS, will head the currently
unnamed college of humanities and social sciences. Allen has been a
faculty member and administrator at USU since 2004 and said he hopes
his college will function to "anchor the liberal arts at Utah State
University."
The split, Allen said,
will help put more focus on each specialized field within the colleges
and concentrate on individual students.
"We want to do a better job giving students a road map so they can graduate in four years," Allen said.
The
separation of the arts from humanities and social sciences will also
enable both colleges to get more funding from outside benefactors,
Allen said.
The HASS faculty will
be receiving input from students and professors before releasing the
new college name July 1, when Jessop and Allen will take the reins from
former HASS dean Yolanda Flores Niemann, who announced her resignation
in January.
"My impression is that
there's a sense of excitement," Allen said about the split. "Not often
do you get to be a part of creating something new. We are getting a lot
of input and we will use it, this isn't some political ploy — we really
value the input we're receiving."