Interim chairpersons named for com, lit departments

Two departments named interim chairpersons this year after the current chairmen of the departments either moved or changed positions. Dr. Ann Beebe was named interim chairperson for the Department of Literature and Languages, and Dr. Marsha Matthews was named interim chairperson for the Department of communications.

Beebe was named the new interim chairperson for the spring semester as the search for a permanent chairperson continues.

Beebe, an associate professor in the English department, became the interim chairperson after Dr. Paul Streufert became the director of the department’s honors program. Streufert filled the role during the fall of 2008.

Beebe, who has been with the University for eight years, said her main goal for this semester is to “not mess up.”

Being an interim chair is like being a caretaker, she said.

“I have to plan the fall schedule, handle budget issues, deal with student complaints, do faculty evaluations and find ways to help improve enrollment and recruitment of students,” she said.

Beebe also advises graduate students for the English department and teaches classes in American literature and freshman composition.

Beebe received her doctorate in English from The University of Kentucky in 2000 and taught as a visiting assistant professor at The University of Maine at Farmington before coming to the University in the fall of 2001.

Beebe said she hopes to have her department well organized by the end of the semester.

She intends to make the job easier for the next interim chairperson by organizing a folder, which contains all the policies and procedures a chairperson needs to know. Dr. Alisa White, dean for the college of arts and sciences, appointed Beebe to the position and said she is known for her creativity in the classroom.

White said, “Dr. Beebe is known as a creative teacher – evidenced by her winning the White Teaching Fellowship a couple years ago – and she will bring her creativity to the department of literature and languages as the search for a permanent chair proceeds.”

Beebe said she serves with five other professors on the committee to hire a permanent chairperson. She said the search is going well.

“We have narrowed the field down and began inviting professors for on campus visits,” she said.

White said they have invited three candidates and interviewed one so far.

Matthews

While the search for a chairperson begins within the department of communication, Dr. Marsha Matthews was named the third interim chair in as many years for the spring semester.

“Dr. Matthews has experience in both journalism and speech communication, and has taught for nearly a decade before coming to UT-Tyler,” Alisa White, dean for the college of arts and sciences, said. “She’s a consensus builder who will do a good job moving the department forward while serving as interim chair.”

Matthews serves as an assistant professor of journalism and is in her third year at the University. She was named interim chair in December by White.

“I feel honored that the dean would allow me to do this,” Matthews said. “It has been three years since we have had a permanent chair and that person was Dr. White.”

Matthews takes over the department after Dr. Jeffrey Hobbs left over the break to be with his wife in Thailand.

She is the third interim chair in the past three years as Dr. Roger Conaway was interim chair from 2006-2007 and Hobbs was interim chair from fall 2007-fall 2008.

Matthews conducts research in meaning making, creativity and loss, the relationship of meaning making and critical thinking and sense making in public relations/communication campaign development, with a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oklahoma.

She said her main goal as interim chair is to keep the department running smoothly during the spring semester.

“I am learning on the job, but I want to make sure we are progressing in the right direction,” she said.

The Department of Communication has three new professors on staff after losing Hobbs and Conaway over the break. Conaway took a teaching job in Mexico teaching business related courses.

“We have some good faculty who have joined us this year,” she said.

Matthews said a search committee headed by Don McClaugherty is starting to interview candidates and have interviewed two candidates for the permanent chair already.

Within the Department of Communication, she can teach up to five classes and is also a member of the Faculty Senate representing the College of Arts and Sciences and a secretary for the University Faculty Senate.

By Aaron May and Joseph Ellerson Staff Writers