Karen M. Gil, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has announced that she has decided to step down at the end of the academic year to return to teaching in the department of psychology.
“There is never a ‘best’ time to leave a job that you love,” she wrote in an email to College faculty and staff on Nov. 19. “I have been inspired by the many innovations that are revolutionizing the way we teach and help students learn, and I am excited to get back into the classroom to apply these myself.”
Gil, dean of the College since July 2009, said she felt it was time for new leadership in the College. “There is much to do as we prepare to embark on the next capital campaign. Also, there is critical work ahead to build on the important reforms we have already put in place,” she wrote.
The College of Arts and Sciences is UNC’s largest academic unit, with more than 16,000 undergraduates and nearly 2,600 graduate students. It encompasses more than 70 academic departments, curricula, programs and centers and includes nearly 1,000 faculty.
Gil has been on the UNC psychology faculty since 1995. She is the Lee G. Pedersen Distinguished Professor of Psychology and also chaired the psychology department from 2004 to 2007.
In a message to the College community, Chancellor Carol L. Folt praised Gil for her leadership: “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 Gil’s tenure, the College:
- Received national recognition for innovative teaching and active learning in STEM fields. With the appointment in July of Kelly Hogan, senior STEM lecturer, as director of instructional innovation, Gil has accelerated these innovations to the social sciences, fine arts and humanities.
- Launched a new undergraduate biomedical engineering degree program, leveraging a dynamic partnership between the UNC School of Medicine and North Carolina State University, and created the first new science department in 40 years with the debut of Applied Physical Sciences.
- Expanded the faculty across the College, especially in the key areas of global education and digital arts and humanities, and supported graduate education, even as the University navigated difficult budget times.
- Advanced entrepreneurship and innovation in the College through the popular entrepreneurship minor. A new entrepreneurship suite was dedicated earlier this month in Gardner Hall to serve as a “creative hub” for students and faculty.
- Developed new initiatives to enhance faculty diversity and excellence. Gil appointed Patricia Parker, associate professor of communication studies, to the new position of director of faculty diversity initiatives in 2012 to engage with leadership throughout the College to create initiatives for recruiting and retaining diverse faculty, and to support collaborative interdisciplinary connections in research, teaching and service.
Folt said that she and Provost James W. Dean Jr. would soon announce plans for a search process to identify Gil’s successor. “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,” she wrote in her message.
Gil has authored numerous publications on health psychology, acute and chronic pain, stress and coping, and childhood medical illness. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
She received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from West Virginia University in 1985 and a B.A. in psychology with highest honors from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1978. Before coming to Carolina, she was a faculty member at Duke University from 1985 to 1995.
