The College of Business, College of Arts and Sciences, Chef John Folse Institute and University College will all have new deans for the fall semester.Arts and Sciences, Chef John Folse Institute and University College are conducting nationwide searches led by separate committees composed of members that reflect the constituencies of the respective office. The committees are made up mostly of department heads and one student, who is selected by the Student Government Association Senate.

Each committee will compile a List Search Committee Summary Report to be submitted to the director of human resources. The report will then be sent to the University president for a final selection.

Dana Mauldin, accounting department head, has already been named as the new dean of the College of Business to replace current dean Ridley Gros.

According to Mauldin, Gros has left the department in good shape, but there are challenges ahead.

“The biggest challenge will be to recruit and retain qualified faculty,” Mauldin said. “And obtain the resources necessary to move the college forward.”

Mauldin will begin as dean on Aug. 1.

“Having been here for five years, I understand the environment of the local business community and the University,” Mauldin said. “I simply want to have our school become a destination of choice and not one of default.”

The search committee for the dean of Arts and Sciences is looking for a replacement for interim dean Badiolloh Asrabadi who replaced former dean Thomas Mortillaro, distinguished service professor of history and social science,

“We have received approximately 16 applicants,” O. Cleveland Hill, dean of the College of Education and head of the search committee for the dean of Arts and Sciences, said. “And we are still screening these applicants with the idea that more can still come in.”

“One of the challenges that any new dean will face at Nicholls is that every program needs resources to function, but some need more than others,” Hill said. “It is the job of the dean to decide how to allocate funds.”

The search for a new dean of University College is also underway. University College replaced Junior Division, which was led by Dean Peter Strawitz. Albert Davis, distinguished service professor of languages and literature, currently serves as the interim dean.

“We have narrowed our search down to the top three candidates and are currently doing interviews,” Carol Mathias, director of Ellender Memorial Library and head of the search committee for the dean of University College, said. “We hope to have a final list by the end of this week.”

Advising and retention will be the two main focuses of the new dean of University College, according to Mathias.

The John Folse Culinary Institute is also looking for a new dean, because Robert Harrington, current dean of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, is leaving Nicholls to teach at the University of Gewlth in Toronto.

“Bob is a terrific chef and also has a PhD.,” Randy Cheramie, chef lecturer and member of the search committee for the dean of the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute, said. “Finding someone else with those types of qualifications is going to be tough.”

“I think we have some struggles ahead of us because we are bursting at the seams,” Cheramie said. “We need somebody who is a fundraiser.”

The new deans of Arts and Sciences, University College and the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute will take office July 1.