WMU HOME > ABOUT WMU > WMU NEWS Trustees approve recent personnel changes July 2, 2004 KALAMAZOO--A number of recently announced personnel moves at Western Michigan University won the approval of the University's Board of Trustees June 30, when board members formally signed off on the changes. In addition, the board approved new appointments of Dr. DeWayne Anderson, as interim chairperson of the Department of Educational Studies, effective July 1; Dr. J. Kevin Corder as chairperson of the Department of Political Science, effective July 1; Dr. John Gesink as chairperson in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, effective Nov. 21, 2003; and Dr. Mohamed I. Sultan as chairperson of the Department of Geosciences, effective Aug. 1. The board approved the appointment of Dr. Linda M. Delene as the new provost and vice president for academic affairs for a two-year term. Trustees also approved the previously announced decision by Provost Daniel M. Litynski to step down and return to the faculty after a yearlong administrative leave. The changes are effective July 1. In addition, the board approved the previously announced appointments of Dr. Margaret M. Bernhard as interim vice provost for Extended University Programs; Dr. Eileen B. Evans as vice provost for institutional effectiveness; Dr. Thomas Kent as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; and Dr. Adrian "Ed" Edwards as interim dean of the Haworth College of Business. In related items, trustees approved the return to the faculty of one person who served for a year as an interim dean and two people who served as departmental chairpersons. Dr. Leonard Ginsberg is returning to the faculty as a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences Aug. 1, after serving since last July as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. David Houghton, associate professor of political science, will resume teaching after leading his department for the past seven years. Dr. Alan Kehew, professor of geosciences, goes back to teaching after nearly eight years as head of his department. Finally, trustees accepted the resignations of two administrators who are leaving the University to serve as presidents of other institutions. Dr. Alan G. Walker is leaving his position as vice provost for Extended University Programs to become the president of Upper Iowa University July 1. Dr. James W. Schmotter is leaving his post as dean of the Haworth College of Business to become president of Western Connecticut State University Aug. 1. DeWayne Anderson, new interim chairperson of educational studies, joined the Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership faculty in 1987. He has served as assistant chair of that department since 1998. He has served as co-director and project manager for a number of projects examining science education and has been honored by the WMU College of Education, Phi Delta Kappa and the Michigan Science Teacher's Association. Before joining the University, Anderson spent more than 20 years teaching in the public schools. He earned his bachelor's degree at Concordia College in 1963 and his master's and doctoral degrees at Michigan State University in 1968 and 1987, respectively. J. Kevin Corder, new chairperson of political science, has been a WMU faculty member since1995. A specialist on American electoral politics and public policy as well as the interrelationship between the U.S. economy and politics, Corder came to WMU from Washington University, where he taught after earning both master's and doctoral degrees there in 1990 and 1993, respectively. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1988. A tenured associate professor of political science, he recently completed an NSF-funded data collection effort to advance understanding of the early voting behavior of women in the United States. John Gesink, who has taken the reins of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been a WMU faculty member since 1984. An active researcher and inventor, his most recent work has been in the area of electronic aids to help visually impaired persons, and he holds one patent in that area. Prior to coming to WMU, Gesink taught at Pennsylvania State University and was a researcher at Ford Motor Co., the University of Michigan and the Veteran's Administration. He earned a bachelor's degree, two master's degrees and a doctoral degree from the University of Michigan in 1965, 1969, 1972 and 1973, respectively. Mohamed I. Sultan, new geosciences chairperson, comes to WMU from the University of Buffalo, where he has been a faculty member since 2002. Prior to that, the geochemist was a project manager in the Environmental Research Division of Argonne National Laboratory and a senior research scientist for NASA's Earth and Planetary Remote Sensing Facility at Washington University. He earned bachelor's and master's degree from Ain Shams University in Cairo in 1974 and 1978, respectively, and he earned a doctoral degree from Washington University in 1984 and did post-doctoral work there as well. A remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems specialist, Sultan will also be a professor of geosciences with tenure at WMU. Media contact: Cheryl Roland, 269 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu WMU News Office of University Relations Western Michigan University 1903 W Michigan Ave Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA 269 387-8400 www.wmich.edu/wmu/news