In response to the resignation of USF’s liberal arts dean, Provost Ralph Wilcox sent out that e-mail to faculty:

Memorandum

To:                  Faculty and Staff, College of Arts and Sciences

From:              Ralph C. Wilcox, Provost and Senior Vice President

Subject:           College Leadership
            
Date:               June 9, 2008
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You may already have heard that Dr. John Skvoretz will step down as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences effective August 6, 2008. I would like to take that opportunity to thank John for his broad contributions in steering the College through a critically critical period, by the past four years, as USF has strengthened its position as a national research university.

As I have regularly acknowledged, we all recognize that a very strong College of Arts and Sciences is fundamental to USF’s future. Since Fall 2004, Dean Skvoretz has guided the College through a period of growth in student and faculty headcount, degree productivity, and

increases in external research funding. He has additionally brought a new appreciation to the importance of info analysis in informing decisions in the College. Today, Florida’s public universities are faced with a meaningful loss of public funding, a condition that will demand transformational, energized and innovative leadership with an increased focus on faculty recruitment and retention, enhanced scholarly productivity, improvements in undergraduate and graduate student success, interdisciplinary collaboration, global and community engagement, and fundraising.

Moreover, the coming months and years will sign for some difficult decision-making as we continue to focus on our strategic path to the future. To that end, I look forward to working with College leaders, chairs and faculty in immediately moving forward to initiate a national search for our next dean. I expect to follow-up with you shortly in announcing the appointment of an interim dean and plans for the College’s future. Meanwhile, I trust you are enjoying a productive Summer, at least in a scholarly sense, and that you manage to find some day for rest and regeneration