Geographer has held post with University of Oregon since 1991
Risa Ileen Palm has been named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Her appointment, approved
by the UNC Board of Governors on Friday, takes effect Aug. 1.
Palm, a geographer, comes to Carolina from the University of Oregon, where she had been dean of the College of Arts and Sciences since 1991.
"Risa Palm is an energetic and creative administrator, a productive scholar and a strong advocate for students and faculty," said Chancellor Michael Hooker.
"At Carolina she will find a College of Arts and Sciences that has a well-deserved national reputation for academic excellence, built on a base of outstanding students and faculty and true believers among the alumni," Hooker said. "She is a great match for the college and for Carolina."
Rich experience
Palm succeeds Stephen S. Birdsall, who stepped down June 30 after 14 years of service in the dean's office, including six as dean. Birdsall will return to teaching in the Department of Geography. Thomas B. Clegg, chair and professor of physics and astronomy, is serving as interim dean.
Palm received wide praise for leading the University of Oregon's largest academic unit through severe budget cuts. Despite the cuts, she found new ways to strengthen undergraduate and graduate education and recruit outstanding young scholars to the faculty.
She also added new programs to recruit and retain students and strengthened the roles of department heads in campus decision-making and budgeting. During her tenure, several departments received national attention for program and research excellence.
Palm also presided over a fund-raising campaign that netted more than $32 million for the college, exceeding a $30 million goal with two years remaining in the five-year campaign. The college formerly received less than $1 million a year from private sources.
Expert on response to risk
While serving as dean, Palm continued her work as an internationally known expert in the perception of and responses to risk and natural hazards. Her specialties are the impact of earthquakes on urban housing markets and cultural responses to natural hazards in the environment. She is working on a National Science Foundation-sponsored project on the ways in which Japanese homeowners differ from California homeowners in their preparation for and response to earthquake hazards.
Palm received bachelor's degrees in history and history-social studies education from the University of Minnesota in 1964, and master's and doctoral degrees in geography from Minnesota in 1969 and 1972.
Before becoming dean at Oregon, Palm held several administrative posts at the University of Colorado at Boulder: associate vice chancellor for research and dean of the graduate school from 1987-1991; associate vice chancellor for academic affairs from 1984-1987; and associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1981-1984. She also spent five years on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley.
The College of Arts and Sciences is Carolina's largest academic unit, with 650 faculty, 15,000 students and more than 60 departments, programs and curricula.
Last year, the Arts and Sciences Foundation raised a record $16.7 million in new gifts, grants and pledges for the benefit of faculty, students and programs in the college.
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