Dean Scott Miller appoints Corry Cropper and Leslee Thorne-Murphy as associate deans.
PROVO, Utah (October 15, 2018)—As of today professor George Handley will be stepping down from his role as an associate dean in the College of Humanities in order to become the associate director of the BYU Faculty Center. Replacing him are two new associate deans in the College of Humanities, professor Corry Cropper from the French and Italian Department and associate professor Leslee Thorne-Murphy of the English Department.
Handley has worked in the dean’s office for just over three years, and his leadership has been highly valued. Of his work there, Dean Scott Miller said, “George has been a strong advocate of diversity initiatives in the College, a champion of spiritually strengthening students in the classroom, and an active representative of the College in local and state humanities outreach efforts. He has also worked hard to help colleagues advance in rank and prepare future humanities scholars for service to the profession.” He anticipates that Handley will continue to do much good for the university in his new role.
“Indeed, Handley’s experience as a department chair and associate dean, where he was a member of the University Faculty Development Council, has helped him become uniquely prepared to help faculty across the university reach their full potential,” said Craig Hart, Director of the Faculty Center. “George is mission-centric and has been an articulate, visionary, and wise voice on the Council. He understands faculty strengths and challenges. He is a caring individual who knows how to facilitate practical approaches for helping faculty become the best they can be in teaching, scholarship, and citizenship in the BYU way.” Handley will replace John Rosenberg who has served with distinction as the associate director of the Faculty Center. Rosenberg was recently appointed as the Associate Academic Vice President for Undergraduate Studies.
Both Cropper and Thorne-Murphy will continue teaching in their respective departments in addition to their new roles in the Dean’s office. On the appointees, Dean Miller remarked, “Corry brings to the deanery a wealth of experience, having served for nine years as chair of the Department of French and Italian. He is a prolific scholar, a university thinker, and has demonstrated strong leadership and vision. Leslee is a remarkable teacher and scholar, having mentored dozens of masters and honors students, directed study abroad programs in the UK, and published widely on Victorian short fiction. She is also a talented leader, having served as associate chair of the Department of English for five years, overseeing revolutionary curricular reforms in the largest department at BYU.”
We look forward to working with professors Cropper and Thorne-Murphy and believe they will highly benefit the BYU Humanities community in their new positions.
Cristiana Farnsworth (European Studies and Russian ’20)