The University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts welcomed its new dean Thursday.

 

John Coleman will lead the University’s largest college, with more than 15,000 students and more than 500 tenured or tenure-track faculty members.

 

The University announced Coleman, formerly the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s political science department chair, as the selected candidate from a pool of four in January.

 

Coleman replaced interim dean Raymond Duvall, who took the position after James Parente left last summer.

 

Before he was selected, Coleman told the Minnesota Daily in November that one of his first initiatives for the college would be to focus on research, adding that faculty members should see CLA as “one of the prime places in the country to come and engage in their research.”

 

In addition to boosting the school’s reputation as a leader in research, Coleman plans to attack CLA’s budget woes — the college experienced state budget cuts totaling over $30 million since 2008 — by gaining more financial support from alumni and outside donors. 

 

The college received more than $10.6 million from nearly 5,500 donors in the fiscal year 2012-2013, according to its website.

“I hope that we can show that there is some great value here,” Coleman told the Daily in January. “That CLA provides a lot for the state, [and] it provides a lot for employers.”