to return classroom, research full time
Stephen S. Birdsall, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will step down at the end of his current five-year term on June 30, 1997, to return to full-time teaching and scholarship.
Birdsall, a professor of geography, has spent more than 13 years in administration as senior associate dean, interim dean and dean while continuing to do some teaching and research.
"I have a great deal of scholarship I've put on hold and a drawer full of projects I want to pursue, and I also miss the close contact with students," Birdsall said. "I look forward to tackling some new challenges."
Chancellor Michael Hooker praised Birdsall's record as an educator and an administrator.
"As dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Steve Birdsall has contributed enormously to the strength of the University's capacity to fulfill its mission to educate North Carolina's best and brightest," he said. "As an administrator and as a distinguished faculty member, his record is one we can all be proud of."
Interim Provost Richard Richardson said, "Dean Birdsall has served the college and the University with distinction for more than a dozen years as an administrator. He leaves a legacy of academic accomplishment and especially of personal integrity and fairness."
A search committee appointed by the provost will begin a national search at the end of the semester.
Two years ago, Birdsall, who came to Carolina in 1967, attained his specialty's highest office, presidency of the 7,000-member Association of American Geographers. The association's southeastern division presented Birdsall with its 1995 lifetime achievement award last year and previously bestowed its outstanding service award and lifetime membership.
Birdsall cited the college's success in the Bicentennial Campaign for Carolina as a high point of his tenure as dean. During the campaign the college raised $53 million to benefit students, faculty and academic programs.
The campaign is credited with increasing recognition of the college's role as the heart and soul of the University because of the value of its liberal arts programs.
Other milestones during his term include programs recognizing faculty for outstanding teaching, a revised tenure review process bringing balance to evaluations of teaching and research, formation of the nationally recognized Department of Communication Studies, improvements in undergraduate advising, a review of the general education curriculum, increased involvement of faculty in the formation of salary policies, hirings that helped diversify the college faculty and a collegewide strategic planning effort.
Birdsall also supervised a major initiative in applied mathematics and fund raising to create a Center for Undergraduate Excellence and build a new music library.
"The college will remain strong because of its great faculty," Birdsall said. "I'm also confident that the people of the state, through their elected officials, will continue to recognize the jewel that the college is for them and for future generations of North Carolinians."
The College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest academic unit of the University, with 60 departments, programs and curricula; 650 faculty and 15,000 students.
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