Two candidates for the position of dean of the Graduate School and International Education, Curt Rom and Ed Pohl, will hold open forums on April 10 and 17, respectively. Each open forum will be held from 3:15-4 p.m. in the E.J. Ball Courtroom in the Law School.

During each open forum, the two candidates will share their vision for the future of the Graduate School and International Education, which will be followed by a question and answer session. The forums will be open to the public.

About Curt Rom

Rom will present at the open forum on April 10. Rom currently serves as the interim dean for the Graduate School and International Education. Prior to his role as interim dean, Rom served as the associate dean for international education. He has also served as the interim dean for the Honors College from 2014 to 2015 and is a University Professor of horticulture.

An active member of numerous professional organizations, Rom is a past Fulbright Fellow and served as a Presidential Fellow for the Association of International Education Administrators. Rom is also a member of the U of A Teaching Academy and has received more than 20 awards for his research, service and teaching during his time at the U of A.

Rom is a native of Fayetteville and received a bachelor's degree in horticulture from the U of A. He received his master's and doctoral degrees from The Ohio State University. He joined the U of A faculty in 1989.

About Ed Pohl

Pohl will present at the open forum on April 17. Pohl currently serves as department head of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the U of A. He also holds the Twenty-First Century Professorship in Engineering and is a professor of industrial engineering. Prior to his role as department head, Pohl was director of the Master of Science in Operations Management degree program. Before joining the U of A faculty, Pohl spent 21 years in the United States Air Force, where he served in a variety of engineering, operations analysis and academic positions during his career before retiring as a lieutenant colonel.

As a scholar, Pohl has led research in risk, reliability, engineering optimization, healthcare logistics, and supply chain risk analysis, decision making and quality. He is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Management, the Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers and the Society of Reliability Engineers. Pohl is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Society for Quality. He is a diplomate in the Society of Health Systems. He is also a member of the International Council on Systems Engineering, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, and the Association for Health Care Resource & Materials Management.

Pohl received his Ph.D. in systems and industrial engineering from the University of Arizona. He holds an M.S. in systems engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, an M.S. in reliability engineering from the University of Arizona, an M.S. in engineering management from the University of Dayton and a B.S. in electrical engineering from Boston University.

The dean search for the Graduate School and International Education is an internal, campuswide search chaired by Vice Provost for Distance Education Cheryl Murphy.

"The search committee and I are excited to present these two candidates to the campus community for the Graduate School and International Education dean position," Murphy said.  "Dr. Rom and Dr. Pohl have a long history serving the University of Arkansas in a variety of roles. Their wealth of knowledge in their fields and in university leadership make them both great contenders for this role."

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.