WCU Stories      January 24, 2019

(Editor's Note: The event schedules for both dean candidates have been updated since publication of this news article on Jan. 24.)

Two finalists for the dean’s position in Western Carolina University’s College of Health and Human Sciences have scheduled visits on campus to meet with faculty and staff.

Vimala Pillari, a professor in the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at Tarleton State University, will be on campus Monday, Jan. 28, through Wednesday, Jan. 30. An open forum providing an opportunity for all WCU faculty and staff to meet with Pillari is scheduled for 9 to 10 a.m. Jan. 28 in Room 204 of the Health and Human Sciences Building. That forum will be live streamed to Room 345 at WCU’s instructional site at Biltmore Park.

Immediately following the Jan. 28 forum, College of Health and Human Sciences faculty and staff will have a chance to meet with Pillari from 10 to 10:30 a.m. in the lobby outside Room 204 of the Health and Human Sciences Building. She also will be meeting with the college’s faculty and staff in Room 104 at the Biltmore Park site from 10:30 to 11 a.m. Jan. 30.

Another candidate for the dean’s post, Lori Messinger, senior fellow for diversity initiatives at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, will be on campus Wednesday, Feb. 6, through Friday, Feb. 8. An open forum for all faculty and staff is scheduled for 11 a.m. until noon Thursday, Feb. 7, in Room 204 of the Health and Human Sciences Building. That forum will be live streamed to Room 344 at the Biltmore Park site.

College of Health and Human Sciences faculty and staff will have an opportunity to meet with Messinger from 11:30 a.m. until noon Feb. 8 in the lobby outside Room 204 in the health building. She also will meet with the college’s faculty and staff at the Biltmore Park site from 3:30 to 4 p.m. Feb. 6 in Room 104.

Final details about the visits and materials for each candidate will be posted on the “Administrative Searches” web page of the Office of the Provost as they become available.

WCU is conducting a national search to fill the dean’s position currently held by Douglas Keskula, who announced in April 2018 his intention to return to a faculty position in the Department of Physical Therapy in the College of Health and Human Sciences. The search committee is being chaired by George Brown, dean of WCU’s Belcher College of Fine and Performing Arts.

A third candidate for the College of Health and Human Sciences dean’s position – Janine E. Janosky, dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Services at the University of Michigan-Dearborn – visited campus Jan. 15-18.