Library Schools Appoint New Deans, Buffalo Dropping the "L" Word

Staff -- Library Journal, 1/11/1999

The library and information science programs at the universities of Rhode Island and Tennessee have announced the appointment of new deans. The School of Information and Library Studies (SILS) at the State University of New York at Buffalo has initiated a search for a new dean and has announced plans to change the name of the school. Elizabeth Aversa, dean of the School of Library and Information Science at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, since 1994, has been named director of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, effective January 1. She has also served on the faculty at the University of Maryland and Florida State University. W. Michael Havener began his duties as director of the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Kingston, on December 21, 1998. For the past ten years, Havener has been at the School of Library and Information Studies, University of Oklahoma. In addition to teaching, he was director of the university's Library and Information Research Center that supported research and developed grant proposals in the information area. He has served in academic libraries at the universities of Michigan, South Carolina, and Delaware.

George Bobinski will step down as dean of the School of Information and Library Studies (SILS) at the State University of New York at Buffalo during the summer of 1999. After a one-year research leave, he will rejoin the faculty as professor and resume teaching. Bobinski has worked toward the expansion of SILS, resulting in the merger of the Communication Department with SLIS into a School of Information Studies beginning with the 1999-2000 academic year. The SLIS is up for accreditation review by the American Library Association in January 1999.