The University of Minnesota’s College of Biological Sciences announced Wednesday that Thomas Hays will serve as its interim dean beginning July 1 until a permanent one is found, according to an email sent to CBS students, faculty and staff.
A search committee, composed mainly of University deans, faculty and students, will conduct a nationwide search for current CBS Dean Robert Elde’s permanent replacement. Appointment of a new dean is expected by July 2015.
Elde announced in September that he would step down from his post this summer, helping prompt talks of merging CBS and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, which also had its dean position in flux.
University leaders weighed a merger for months, but scrapped the idea in February after finding that most stakeholders opposed it.
Hays has been a University faculty member since 1989, according to the email, and is currently a professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development.
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