Mathematics professor Hal Sadofsky has been named the new associate dean of the natural sciences in the UO’s College of Arts and Sciences.
Sadofsky, a UO faculty member for almost 20 years, will take the place of the current associate dean, Dana Johnston. Johnston, a geology professor, will retire to emeritus status in July.
In a letter to the university community, College of Arts and Sciences Dean W. Andrew Marcus praised both Sadofsky and Johnston for their service to the college and the university. Sadofsky has been head of the mathematics department since 2008, and Marcus said that in that capacity Sadofsky has overseen the delivery of approximately 10 percent of all student credit hours in the department, managed a graduate program with 65 doctoral students and supervised multiple research grants.
The choice was made with the advice of a committee of senior faculty in the college and others. Sadofsky will begin his three-year term as associate dean on July 1.
“I look forward with excitement to working with Hal over the coming years,” Marcus wrote. “Please join me in welcoming him to this new role.”
Johnston served as associate dean for four years. Marcus noted a long list of accomplishments in that time, including almost 40 junior hires, a number of key senior faculty hires, the retention of some of the college’s best faculty, re-imagining the system for financing startups, promoting science initiatives and negotiating key space issues.
“Dana consistently provided strong academic leadership and a commitment to the highest intellectual aspirations, while also providing a common-sense management style that helped us navigate a time of great change in student enrollments, college budgets and shifts in federal funding,” Marcus wrote.
Johnston also was recognized for innovative suggestions and “an unfailing sense of humor.”
“I want to thank him formally for his contributions,” Marcus wrote. “Dana represents much of the best of our campus; I know we all wish him well as he embarks on his new life as an emeritus professor.”