UNM College of Arts & Sciences dean accepts similar position at the University of Kansas
December 1, 2022
Arash Mafi, interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of New Mexico, has accepted a similar position as executive dean for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (CLAS) at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kan. Mafi will begin his new position at KU on March 1, 2023.
“Arash Mafi has been an exceptional colleague,” said UNM Provost James Holloway. “He took on the leadership of our largest and most complex college at a very challenging time, and has moved the college forward with humility and humanity. I feel privileged to have worked with him.”
Holloway has launched a national search for the next dean for the UNM College of Arts & Sciences; details can be found on the Executive Search Website. In the meantime, effective March 1, 2023, Professor Janie Chermak, currently serving as chair of the Department of Economics, will take on the role of interim dean of Arts and Sciences until the next dean arrives in late summer 2023.
Mafi will be the first executive dean of the College, a title that reflects the size of the organization, as well as the breadth of scholarship and academics available through its people, departments, programs and research centers. The College is home to about 50 departments, programs and centers, as well as the School of the Arts and School of Public Affairs & Administration. Those departments, programs and centers offer more than 150 majors, minors and certificates and prepare students with fundamental skills and knowledge that will serve them in any career.
Read more in the UNM Newsroom
