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University Relations 202 Eielson Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-7520
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fynews@uaf.edu

Fairbanks, Alaska - University of Alaska Fairbanks Provost Paul Reichardt has appointed UAF communication department head John Leipzig, 50, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

The appointment follows an internal search by a committee of faculty, staff and students which began its work last month after current CLA Dean Gorden Hedahl announced his resignation. Hedahl, who came to UAF in 1993, will become Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls on Aug. 1.

According to Reichardt, the search committee did an outstanding job of recommending candidates for the post of interim CLA dean.

"These decisions are always very difficult because of the exceptional talent of our faculty. Everyone who was nominated would have served the liberal arts college and UAF students with extreme professionalism," Reichardt said.

"Dr. Leipzig has demonstrated his leadership skills by serving in key positions through three major assessments and restructurings of the university system," Reichardt said. "I am confident that he will continue to lead the college through this critical time of change and be a great asset as we begin to search for a permanent leader for the College of Liberal Arts."

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.

Before that, 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.

While head of UAF's communication department, 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. The College of Liberal Arts is the largest academic unit on the UAF campus.

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CONTACT: UAF College of Liberal Arts Dean Gorden Hedahl, (907) 474-7231, or Interim CLA Dean John Leipzig (907) 474-6817.

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Last modified June 16, 1998