Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean

Record Group

Identifier: A3

Staff Only

Description

The Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean heads the Office of Academic Affairs and is UMM's chief academic officer. The chairs of the four divisions--Education, Humanities Science and Mathematics, Social Sciences--all report to the Vice Chancellor. The holder of the office is also responsible for On-Line Learning, the Center for Small Towns, Inter-Disciplinary studies, Briggs Library, the Office of the Registrar, Community Engagement, Institutional Research and the various Academic Support Offices. This record group is divided into a number of distinct series: Budget, Committees, Conferences, Curriculum and Programs, Divisions, Faculty and Governance, Planning and Progress Reports, Speeches and Addresses, Facilities, Assessment and Student Learning, and Leaves and Sabbaticals. A final series, General Files and Correspondence, is made up the following sub-series: Academic, Administrative, Correspondence, Miscellaneous. See the abstracts for the various record series and sub-series in this record group for more information.

Dates

Creation: 1960 - 2000

Creator

Briggs, Rodney A. (Person)
Imholte, John Q. (Person)
Bopp, Gordon R. (Person)
Blake, Elizabeth S. (Person)
Schuman, Samuel (Person)
Guyotte, Roland (Person)
Schwaller, John Frederick, 1948- (Person)
Kuechle, Judith (Person)
Contant, Cheryl Katherine (Person)

History of the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean Office

The position of Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs did not exist in the early history of UMM. Rodney Briggs upon the founding of UMM was the campus' chief executive officer and also performed the functions of the academic dean. According to the catalog for the 1961-62 year an Administrative Committee was in place, and the Committee members, it seems, collectively performed roles later formally assigned to the Dean. When Briggs resigned in 1969 John Q. Imholte assumed the position of "Academic Dean and Acting Provost." Two years later Gordon Bopp was named "Academic Dean." Bopp remained in that role until the 1979-81 academic year at which time Elizabeth (Bettina) Blake was named to replace Bopp. Blake resigned in 1995 and was replaced by Samuel Schuman. Meanwhile, the title changed in the 1987-1989 academic year, and the office was renamed "Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs and Dean." When Schuman became acting Chancellor in 1998 he appointed a series of so-called "Baby Deans" to administer the office. John Schwaller was then named Dean in 2002, and he was succeeded by Judith Kuechle on an interim basis in 2006 and Roland Guyotte in 2007. Cheryl Contant followed Guyotte in 2008.