College of Education and Health Professions Chooses New Administrators

University Relations

From left, top row, Kate Mamiseishvili, Steve Dittmore and Matt Ganio; bottom row, Michelle Gray, Cheryl Murphy and Michael Hevel

The College of Education and Health Professions will have several new faces in administrative positions at the University of Arkansas, Dean Michael Miller announced.

"We have some outstanding leaders among the college's faculty, and I am thrilled to be able to work with a number of them in new positions this coming year," Miller said. "We all share a service-first mindset, and that is critical for the college's success in responding to student and faculty needs."

Kate Mamiseishvili, an associate professor of higher education who has been serving as head of the Department of Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders since 2013, has been appointed to the new position of associate dean for academic and student affairs. The college conducted a review of its administrative structure and has made changes from the former system that included associate and assistant deans for the education and health fields, respectively, and an assistant dean for administration.

Mamiseishvili's new position will combine several functional areas that had been separate previously, creating a one-stop location for academic and student needs.

Janet Penner-Williams, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction, formerly held the position of senior associate dean overseeing education programs. She will return to the faculty of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction and teach in the educational leadership program. Fran Hagstrom, an associate professor of communication disorders, will continue as an assistant dean, and Jeremy Battjes will continue serving as both interim assistant dean for administration and director of University Recreation.

Steve Dittmore, an associate professor of recreation and sport management who joined the faculty in 2008, has received a quarter-time appointment as assistant dean for outreach, a new position. He has been assistant department head of Health, Human Performance and Recreation since July 2015.

Other changes were made in academic departments in the college.

Bart Hammig is returning to the public health faculty as an associate professor, and Matt Ganio will take over as head of the Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation, a position Hammig held since 2011. Ganio is an associate professor of kinesiology who joined the faculty in 2011.

Michelle Gray, associate professor of exercise science, will take over Ganio's former position as director of the Exercise Science Research Center, which was formerly called the Human Performance Lab. She also serves as director of the college's Honors Program.

Michael Daugherty is leaving his position as head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, which he has held since 2007, to direct a new initiative called Innovative Career Education. Daugherty is a professor of STEM education who joined the faculty in 2005. Cheryl Murphy, an associate professor of education technology and program coordinator who joined the faculty in 1996, has been appointed to the department head's position on an interim basis.

Michael Hevel, who will be an associate professor of higher education in August, will take over the role of interim head of the Department of Rehabilitation, Human Resources and Communication Disorders. Hevel joined the faculty in 2012. Internal searches will be held for both of the interim department head positions during the 2017-18 academic year.

The College of Education and Health Professions enrolled 4,132 undergraduate students and 1,368 graduate students for a total of 5,500 students in the 2016-17 academic year. It has the most graduate students of U of A academic colleges. Some of the university's most popular majors, by enrollment, are in the college, including nursing and kinesiology. Nursing and pre-nursing reported 1,562 students in the fall, and kinesiology reported 937 students.