Search committee named for Honors College dean

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A nine-member search advisory committee led by Mark J.T. Smith, dean of the Graduate School, has been named to help find the inaugural dean for Purdue University's Honors College.

The Honors College, approved by the Board of Trustees in 2011, is expected to admit first-year students for fall 2013. The college will recruit prospective honors students and provide them with advising, residential learning opportunities and cross-disciplinary opportunities.

"The dean's primary role is to provide vision and leadership within the new college," said Victor Lechtenberg, acting provost and chief academic officer. "The dean will be dedicated to recruiting top-caliber students, promoting and assuring academic excellence and fundraising to support the facilities and programming needs of the college."

 In addition to Smith, who will chair the committee, other members include:

* Rosalee Clawson, professor and head of the Department of Political Science.

* Marcos Fernandez, associate dean and director of programming in the College of Agriculture.

* Michael Harris, associate dean and director of graduate studies in the College of Engineering and professor of chemical engineering.

* Elizabeth Hudson, an undergraduate student in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

* Jeffrey Karpicke, associate professor of psychological sciences.

* Catharine Patrone, student services director of the Honors College.

* Mark Ward, assistant professor of statistics.

* Gabriela Weaver, professor of chemistry.

The Honors College will build on the University Honors Program, which began in 2004. It started with 60 students and increased to approximately 450 earlier this year.

Writer: Greg McClure, 765-49609711, gmcclure@purdue.edu

Sources: Victor Lechtenberg, vll@purdue.edu