FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jeff Shannon, dean of the School of Architecture and chair of the dean’s search committee, announced that the committee has selected two finalists for the position of dean in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

"After carefully reviewing dozens of applications, two clearly rose to the top in our consideration: Dr. Kenneth Paap from New Mexico State University and Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt, interim dean of Fulbright College," said Dean Shannon.

Students, faculty and staff are invited to public forums scheduled for both candidates. Dr. Paap will meet with Fulbright College students from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Monday, April 21 in Old Main 208. He will make a presentation for Fulbright College faculty and staff from 4-5:30 p.m. in Giffels Auditorium, Old Main.

Dr. Bobbitt will meet with Fulbright students from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Monday, April 28 in Old Main 208. He will then offer a presentation for Fulbright faculty and staff from 4-5:30 p.m. in Giffels Auditorium, Old Main.

Vitas for both candidates are posted online on the Fulbright College Web site at http://www.uark.edu/~arsc/info/.

"I encourage everyone to attend these forums and learn more about how these candidates envision leading the College in the years ahead," said Associate Dean Charles Adams, a member of the search committee. "Both candidates clearly understand the role played by the arts and sciences in shaping the intellectual and cultural life of a university."

Paap, who serves as an associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the College’s Research Center at New Mexico State University, supervises a staff of 12 in writing proposals and administering grants for the research center, which currently receives $40 million in funding. He oversees the allocation of all space among the College’s various departments and units, oversees renovations of facilities, and seeks state and federal funding for new facilities. Before becoming associate dean, he served for six years as head of the Department of Psychology, leading the department faculty to new records in external funding and publications.

He received his Ph.D. in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin in general experimental psychology, with minors in computer science and educational administration. Since being hired at New Mexico State University in 1975, he has published over 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals, presented his research at 48 national and international conferences, and served as principal investigator on nine grants worth more than $1 million. In addition, he is one of three primary investigators and a co-investigator on grants worth $8.7 million. The majority of his published research involves the development of cognitive models and human-computer interactions. During his career, he has taught a wide range of courses, from introductory psychology, consumer psychology and experimental methods to psycholinguistics, perception and cognition.

Dr. Donald R. Bobbitt, who has served as both associate dean for research since 2000 and as interim dean of Fulbright College since July 1, 2002, came to the University of Arkansas in 1985 after earning his Ph.D. in analytical chemistry at Iowa State University. He is also the campus Director of the Arkansas Biosciences Institute. From 1998 to 2000, he was chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. He is the recipient of major grants from the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute for enhancing undergraduate and graduate education. He was also one of 10 investigators involved in the $3.3 million National Science Foundation grant for the Center for the Study of Protein Dynamics, from 1992 to 1995. He has offered 121 lectures and invited presentations at meetings and symposia around the country.

Bobbitt is the recipient of the UA Alumni Association’s Award for teaching and research, the Fulbright College Master Teacher Award, and a Teacher-Scholar Fellowship from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. His primary research interests involve developing new approaches for assessing the purity of pharmaceuticals and determining the relationships between biological structures and functions. The author or co-author of 60 publications, he has served as a consultant for numerous national firms, including the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute and the Shell and Sanyo chemical companies. In 2002, he served on the NSF biosensors review panel and on the Department of Energy review panel for analytical chemistry.