By BG INDEPENDENT NEWS
Jeffrey Showell is stepping down as dean of the College of Musical Arts after five years in the position.
The announcement was made Tuesday morning in a letter to faculty by Provost Rodney Rogers.
Rogers wrote: “In his five years at BGSU, Dr. Showell has led the college in notable accomplishments, including raising the academic profile of its student body and the renovation of facilities. He also facilitated an important new partnership with WGTE-FM, ‘New Music from Bowling Green,’ which has provided a showcase for the college’s talented faculty and students on public broadcasting stations across the country.”
The university has appointed William Mathis, professor of trombone and chair of the Department of Music Performance Studies, as interim dean. Rogers said that Mathis, who has been on the faculty since 2000, had “strong support” from the faculty.
Rogers wrote that Mathis “has held a variety of leadership roles that have given him administrative and budget experience as well as an intimate understanding both of the college and of the University as a whole.”
Rogers told faculty senate Tuesday that the search for a new dean will begin next week.
Showell in an email said he will take administrative leave and then return to serve as a special assistant in the provost office working on special projects for a semester. After that semester he will be 65 and will retire. He said he plans to continue to live in Bowling Green, and devote himself to volunteer work.
Showell has worked 38 years in academy, including the last 17 as an administrator. From 1982-1990, he also was the principal violist of the Tuscon Symphony.
