Q&A With Ivan Allen College Interim Dean Richard Utz

Posted April 23, 2024

Provost Steven W. McLaughlin recently entrusted me with leading the College as interim dean, and I thought I should answer some questions the members of our community might have:

What does an interim dean do?

All the things a dean does, really, only for a shorter period. Those who take an interim job seriously, and I certainly do, know that it isn’t just about keeping the trains running and twiddling one’s thumbs until a longer-term appointment is in place. Leading the Ivan Allen College is an awesome responsibility, whether for an interim period or for several years: Our students, faculty, and staff and their dreams and aspirations always deserve a dean who is fully engaged, adds new ideas, and increases our College’s momentum. And yes, I did read up on “Are you really sure you want that interim job” in the Chronicle before accepting the position.

Why do you think you are prepared to lead our College?

The short version:

• More than 30 years in higher education at five different institutions in the U.S. and Germany; four years as chair of a large English department; nine years as chair of our College’s largest unit, the School of Literature, Media, and Communication; three years as (senior) associate dean; 11 years as president of my specialty field’s professional organization.

• 4.9 interpolated median CIOS score for instructor effectiveness; 5.0 in inclusiveness, enthusiasm, and respect for students.

• 3 monographs; 21 (co)edited essay collections and special journal issues; 80 journal articles and book chapters; 70 book reviews; 16 pieces in Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and Times Higher Education.

• Translated into French, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish; media mentions in Christian Science Monitor, Forbes, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Gazeta Wyborcza, NPR, New York Times, Universitybusiness, thedotcultura, Sputnik Mundo, Serious Eats (seriously!), Time, and others.

The long version: visit medievalitas.com.

A final observation: I enjoy low blood pressure and resting pulse, conditions I deem among my principal natural endowments for the job. Drawback: I need to treat these conditions with daily doses of espresso.

Do you foresee challenges?

A dean doesn’t work alone but serves as the leader of a tried and tested team of other experienced and motivated faculty and staff administrators and managers and the members of our various advisory boards. I will be able to rely on just such a formidable team, created by Kaye Husbands Fealing, to face programmatic and planning challenges to improve the budgetary and policy framework within which we can do our best work. Moreover, we have our IAC Strategic Plan, developed with input from all College constituencies, and the values and goals in this plan provide a reliable roadmap for future activities. For all these reasons, I am positive we can weather whatever may come our way. 

Are there projects you would like to tackle sooner rather than later?

There are priorities:

• I renewed an urgent request for staff in the area of development to reach our funding goals as part of the Institute’s capital campaign, Transforming Tomorrow.

• To ensure a smooth transition for promotion and tenure processes and faculty-to-faculty mentoring, Alasdair Young of the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs was appointed interim associate dean for faculty development, effective April 1.

• We need to advance new programs and perform innovative scholarship and research to remain a first choice for top students and faculty from Georgia and the world. To reach this goal, we will incentivize amplifying our creativity for audiences of non-specialists in high impact media, alongside the work we disseminate in peer-reviewed venues.

• We need to improve on past efforts to build a diverse community of learners, a community that allows everyone to feel they are an essential and cherished member of our College.

• I hope to increase the deliberate integration of the humanities, arts, and social sciences (HASS) disciplines with our partners in science, engineering, technology, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM). A holistic and plurivocal approach, one that relies on the combined voices of diverse disciplines and their methodologies, will help us solve complex global issues. It also gives us an edge over liberal arts colleges at traditional universities, many of which do not work in concert with their STEMM colleagues. Our new cross-college minor in applications of artificial intelligence and machine learning is a great example.

Anything BIG on the horizon?

Earlier this spring, one of the “Conversations With Cabrera” events featured Dr. Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation and the author of Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens. Shah holds that too many people settle for “good enough” in problem-solving and avoid going through with comprehensive solutions. I am taking his advice to heart: IAC has experienced impressive growth in productivity, enrollment, and national reputation, but we haven’t really showcased this growth via a commensurately impressive collegewide on-campus event. Thus, in the fall we will offer our campus partners a comprehensive understanding of the massive value added to the Institute by our College and its units. Watch this space!