By LJ Staff

Blaise Cronin, dean of Indiana University's (IU) School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) since 1991, has announced that he will step down as dean effective June 30, 2003. After a year's sabbatical leave, he will return to the faculty to pursue research interests. Cronin is the Rudy Professor of Information Science, IU Bloomington. He is concurrently visiting professor of Information Science at the Manchester Metropolitan University, England, and also visiting professor in the School of Computing at Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland. Cronin also writes the Dean's List column for Library Journal.

During Cronin's 12 years as dean the SLIS has undergone significant transformation, and it is consistently ranked as one of the nation's top programs. The SLIS has established research centers in social informatics, information retrieval, and information visualization, and faculty members have been successful in securing external research support, notably from the National Science Foundation. Cronin also oversaw a major restructuring of the school's programs across the state of Indiana. During the early nineties SLIS phased out its programs in six locations, and greatly strengthened its presence on both the Bloomington and Indianapolis campuses. At the same time, new degrees in information science (master's and Ph.D.) were introduced, along with an array of joint/dual degree programs.