UAF'S LARGEST COLLEGE ENROLLS NEW DEAN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 1, 2000

Fairbanks, Alaska — University of Alaska Fairbanks Provost Paul Reichardt has appointed former UAF communication department head John Leipzig as dean of the College of Liberal Arts. With more than 1,000 enrolled students, CLA is the largest college on the UAF campus, with academic programs ranging from arts and communication, to humanities and social science.

Leipzig has been interim dean since the departure of previous CLA Dean Gorden Hedahl in 1998. Hedahl left UAF to become the Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Leipzig's appointment follows both an internal search and an intensive, external national search by a committee of faculty, staff and students.

"This is an exciting time for UAF and I'm thrilled that the Provost has demonstrated his support for my leadership efforts by making this appointment," Leipzig said. "It's clear that the course we've set for liberal arts education at UAF is on the right track. After nearly a decade of funding challenges to the university, I look forward to working with faculty, staff, and students as we explore new opportunities to help build a stronger university."

Leipzig came to UAF in 1982 following a year as an International Visiting Fellow in Communication Studies at Australia's Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education. While at UAF, he has served in key positions through three major assessments and restructurings of the university system.

During his tenure as UAF's communication department head, Leipzig oversaw the implementation of a master's degree program in professional communication in conjunction with the journalism and broadcasting department. Leipzig's research is in the area of organizational communication, particularly communication ethics

Before coming to UAF, Leipzig was an assistant professor of speech communication at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, and before that, he was a graduate teaching fellow in speech communication at Kent State University.

Leipzig received his Ph.D. in speech communication from Kent State in 1980. He received his bachelor's degree in speech communication from Western Michigan University in 1969 and his master's in speech communication from the University of South Florida in 1974. He has also been a speech instructor at Culver-Stockton College in Missouri and a high school speech, drama and English teacher in Florida.

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CONTACT: UAF College of Liberal Arts Dean John Leipzig, 907-474-7231.

DPD/12-1-00/01-035