TULANE TALK

March 3, 2006

Good morning:

This week we appointed a pair of outstanding Tulane University faculty members and experienced academic administrators to lead, on an interim basis, two of the new academic units created under the recently adopted
http Plan.

Associate Provost James MacLaren, who currently serves as interim dean of the School of Liberal Arts, will be named interim dean of the newly created Undergraduate College. George Bernstein, who is currently dean of Tulane College, will be named interim dean of the School of Liberal Arts. Both appointments are effective July 1, 2006.

George, who received his B.A. from Columbia College and his master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, is a highly regarded historian, author, administrator and teacher. He has won numerous awards including the Honors Program Professor of the Year, the Sheldon Hackney Award for Teaching Excellence, the Newcomb College Alpha Lambda Delta Advising Award, the Undergraduate Student Government John H. Stibbs Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Professor and the Tulane College Senior Class Advisor Award for Exemplary Service to Students. As a long-term faculty member in the Liberal Arts and academic administrator, George is ideally suited for this new role.

James received his bachelorís and masterís from Churchill College at the University of Cambridge, and his Ph.D. from the University of Londonís Imperial College. His work as a physicist on Giant Magneto Resistance, a technology in use in all current disk drives, with colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory won an award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement from the Department of Energy. James has been widely published and is also a highly regarded professor, having won the Tulane University Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He has also gained the admiration of students by directing TIDES and many of the First-Year Experience programs. James’ dedication to undergraduate students, his administrative acumen, knowledge of the university and his role in the development of the new Undergraduate College have well prepared him for this new position.

I know George and James will serve in these new positions with the same commitment to excellence that has marked both of their careers. I hope you all will join me in thanking them for assuming these critical positions at a momentous time in the university’s history. Given the mission and importance of the new Undergraduate College and School of Liberal Arts to the university’s future, we will embark on nationwide searches in a few months for permanent successors to lead these two new and vital academic units of Tulane University.

Have a great weekend,