More than two months have gone by since Dean James McLeod’s passing, and his position at the University has yet to be filled.
The search for a permanent dean of the College of Arts & Sciences has begun with the appointment of an eight-member search committee and the scheduling of two community forums.

He was a seemingly unlikely choice. A professor with no formal engineering background, Ralph Quatrano was selected as the new dean of the engineering school—a school with five distinct departments. But Quatrano—former interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and former chair of the biology department—said that his unique background would help integrate interdisciplinary studies within the engineering school.

For the first time in recent history, the former dean of Arts & Sciences is the dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science.
Biology professor Ralph Quatrano was named the dean of the School of Engineering on Friday afternoon.

The search for the 10th dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science began Friday.
In an e-mail to faculty, Provost Edward Macias, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, encouraged Washington University faculty to submit applications and nominations for the position of dean by Dec. 14, 2009. The selected candidate will succeed current interim Dean Salvatore Sutera in June 2010, when Sutera plans to step down.

Gary Wihl, dean of humanities at Rice University, will take over as the dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University on July 1. Wihl will replace Ralph Quatrano, who became the interim dean after Ed Macias was promoted. Macias served as dean for 15 years before becoming the University’s provost last [...]