November 19, 2014
Dear College Faculty and Staff:
Following Dean Karen Gil’s message to you earlier today, I am writing to express my own message of gratitude and admiration for Dean Gil. Over the past year, as a member of my Cabinet representing our largest academic department, Dean Gil has done a great job helping me to understand the strengths and aspirations of the College.
Since becoming dean in 2009, she has advocated tirelessly for students, staff and faculty, and helped ensure that the College, home to the vast majority of all our undergraduates, remains a place many call the “heart and soul of the University.” Passionately championing the special role that undergraduate education and research plays in the vitality of the University, she strengthened connections with our other schools and units, while also fostering national and international partnerships.
Under her leadership, the College, in partnership with the UNC School of Medicine and North Carolina State University, created a new undergraduate biomedical engineering degree program. The College launched the first new science department in nearly 40 years – Applied Physical Sciences – to accelerate the movement of scientific ideas to the marketplace. She supported programs that earned A&S national recognition for innovative teaching in STEM fields, fine arts and humanities, and for enhancing graduate education and diversity. To enhance Carolina’s global relevance, she increased faculty expertise in Asia and Africa, while sustaining historic strengths in Latin American and European studies. She also helped enhance entrepreneurship, by expanding Carolina’s highly popular undergraduate entrepreneurship minor, and launching the new John S. Akin Entrepreneurship Suite, a collaborative workspace for students in entrepreneurship.
I would like to especially commend Dean Gil for her leadership over the past four years. During this trying period, Dean Gil not only kept the College advancing in its core mission, but she also oversaw the implementation of many important and far-reaching reforms that have been critical to making needed improvements in academic oversight in the College.
Provost Dean and I will announce plans soon for a search process to identify the very best candidates for the deanship. I am grateful that Dean Gil has given us sufficient time to identify an outstanding new dean and will serve in her current role as we work to identify and bring her successor on board. Provost Dean will meet soon with the faculty in the College to discuss the leadership transition.
Please join me in thanking Dr. Gil for her dedicated service to the College. I know she will accomplish much more before she steps down and I look forward to working with her.
Sincerely,
Carol L. Folt
