Timeline – Liberal Arts & Sciences

LAS Timeline

LAS structure established after a year-long planning process and extensive campus engagement.
Peter Trapa is appointed as the inaugural Vice Provost/Senior Dean of the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Coordinated services discussion begins across Finance, Advancement, Administration, Facilities.

Cluster-based model of financial and administrative services designed.
Tiffany Jensen, Director of Finance, joins LAS. Jensen begins implementation of coordinated finance systems and leads the financial organization of LAS.

College of Science continues implementation of coordinated financial and administrative services.
College of Social and Behavioral Science begins implementation of coordinated financial and administrative services.
College of Humanities begins implementation planning.

Mike Middleton, Senior Advisor on Student Success, begins work with Vice Provost Trapa on establishing goals for student success in LAS. Middleton begins work on coordinating student success efforts.
David Thomas, Director of Safety, joins the LAS team. Coordinated LAS laboratory safety training and education launches.
Jim Muller, Senior Director of Infrastructure and Operations, joins the LAS team. Muller unifies the facilities team across LAS and leads collaboration efforts to streamline and standardize operations and service to maintenance, construction, and infrastructure support.
The marketing and communications leadership across LAS begins meeting to discuss shared operations.

Cassie Slattery, Director of Strategic Initiatives, joins the LAS team. She assumes a leadership role in implementation of coordinated services.
Anna Tibbits, Senior Advancement Director, joins the LAS team. She finalizes the LAS Advancement Team efforts to provide a coordinated approach for fundraising, alumni relations and donor stewardship.
LAS began collaborating with Space Planning and EVPAA to establish a standardized process for renovations, construction and space requests.
Debate Across the Curriculum pilot launches.

Humanities begins implementation of financial and administrative services.
Karen Marsh, Interim Director of Student Success, joins the LAS team. She begins work on streamlining and strengthening student affairs work across LAS.
Cameron Valkilian, Associate Director of Internships, joins the LAS team. Valkilian begins working with both CSBS and Humanities on providing internship experiences for students and working collaboratively with U Career Success.
College of Science completes implementation of coordinated finance and administrative services.

Wil Mace, Interim Senior Manager for Field Operations, joins the LAS team. Mace begins coordinating LAS field station operations.
Andrea Morse, Student Services and Scholarship Coordinator, joins the LAS team. Morse begins collecting all scholarship data across LAS to unify the scholarship application process.
The School of Cultural and Social Transformation (TRANSFORM) merges with the College of Humanities as the new Department of Ethnic, Gender & Disability Studies.
The Undergraduate Council approves a new degree in Neuroscience, the first interdisciplinary major coordinated between CSBS and COS. Development involved faculty from Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Psychology.

Jesse Pugh, Director of Grant Management, and Christine Gore, Grant Development Manager, join the LAS team. Research administration pre-award support unites across LAS.
Search for LAS Director of Marketing and Communications launches.
Work begins on coordinating IT operations across LAS.

Scott Patten, LAS Associate Director of IT joins the LAS team and begins uniting IT efforts across LAS in partnership with Dean Keyek-Franssen in UIT.

Pearl Sandick was appointed Dean of the College of Science.
Natalie Pyne joins LAS as Director of Marketing and Communications. Marketing and Communications professionals begin work to unify the marcomms team.
LAS proposed a new Center for Civic Discourse and Debate seeking formal approval by Fall 2026.

IT professionals begin working collaboratively together to function as an LAS IT professionals team.