The University is finalizing plans to officially welcome four new deans to the Nicholls community, according to Carroll Falcon, provost and vice president for academic affairs. The College of Business Administration, Arts and Sciences, University College and Chef John Folse Culinary Institute will all have new deans arriving as soon as July 1.D. Shawn Mauldin, department head of accounting and business law, will become dean of the College of Business Administration, effective Aug. 1. Outgoing dean of the College of Business Administration, Ridley Gros Jr. has a contract with the University that does not expire until the end of July.
Albert Davis, interim dean of University College, will become the dean of University College on July 1.
Badiollah Asrabadi, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has been selected as the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and will begin on July 1.
The search committee for the next dean of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute has made its recommendation to the University administration, but a decision is still pending, according to Pamela Kirkley, search committee chair and department head for family and consumer sciences.
“We as a committee turned in a letter with our three selections to the provost, Dr. Carroll Falcon, on May 16,” Kirkley said. “After that it is in the administration’s hands.”
Kirkley said that the search committee looked for candidates who can lead the institute in the coming years and assist the chefs in being the most efficient department it can be.
In the meantime, George Kaslow, assistant professor of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, will serve as acting dean of the institute until the person selected to become the new dean is officially approved.
“We have three finalists in that search, and we plan to finalize that search in a few days,” Falcon said. “We will have that search finalized in time to present the recommendation to the board at our August meeting.”
In selecting a new dean, the University assembles a search committee that narrows the field of candidates to three finalists. The finalists are contacted for an interview with the committee and Stephen Hulbert, University president.
“For a position of academic dean, the recommendation to the president comes from the vice president of academic affairs,” Falcon said. “The president makes the final decision.”
According to Falcon, the University is satisfied with the outcome of the four searches.
“We were very pleased,” Falcon said. “It was open searches. They were national searches in scope.”
Falcon said he enjoyed speaking with the finalists and learning why they wanted to become the next dean at Nicholls.
“It was interesting talking to some of the finalists, trying to find out why they wanted to relocate. Why they were attracted to Nicholls,” Falcon said. “For some of them it is because of the size of the school, the location, being in the South or its reputation.
