PROFESSOR VALENTINI NAMED DEAN OF COLUMBIA COLLEGE

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Chemistry Professor James J. Valentini seen in the photo at the left (reprinted with permission from Columbia College Today: photo taken by Eileen Barroso), has been appointed Dean of Columbia College and Vice President for Undergraduate Education, filling the positions left by Professor Michele Moody-Adams in August 2011.    The appointment was announced in a message to the university community by University President, Lee Bollinger, in June 2012.  Professor Valentini’s appointment follows a year in which he served as interim dean and which, President Bollinger noted, was marked by an “inclusive leadership style” that “unified students, faculty, and alumni of the College…”  Professor Valentini was the unanimous choice of the advisory committee that reviewed the qualifications of “several impressive internal candidates” for the position.


Professor Valentini was chemistry department chair from 2005 – 2008.  From 2008 until his appointment as interim Dean in 2011 he served as director of the chemistry department Undergraduate Studies Program.   President Bollinger's message also noted Professor Valentini's many other contributions to the university community, including serving as a member of the University Senate and the Presidential Advisory Committee on Diversity Initiatives, Chair of the Arts and Sciences Academic Review Committee, Chair of the College Committee on Science Instruction, a member of the College Committee on Instruction, faculty representative to the Alumni Association Board, and a participant in other groups reviewing curriculum, undergraduate affairs, faculty governance, and tenure.


The complete text of President Bollinger’s announcement can be found here.

 

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