College names Interim Provost and Interim Associate Provost and Dean of Graduate School

Donald Christian, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs at the State University of New York at New Paltz has announced that Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Dr. Laurel Garrick Duhaney will serve as interim provost upon Christian’s assumption of duties as the interim president of the College beginning July 1, 2010. Dr. Stella Deen, associate professor of English, will serve as the interim associate provost and dean of the Graduate School.

All three will return to their current positions once the search for the new College President is complete.

Christian takes on the position as interim president upon the departure of President Steven Poskanzer who will assume presidency of Carleton College, one of the nation’s premier liberal arts colleges, in Northfield, Minnesota.

“Both Drs. Garrick Duhaney and Deen have shown their thoughtful and wise leadership in various positions and capacities on the campus,” said Christian. “I am grateful to each of them for their willingness to serve the College in these positions during this transition period.”

Garrick Duhaney became associate provost and dean of the Graduate

School in 2006. In this capacity, Garrick Duhaney is responsible for campus-wide coordination of assessment for academic programs and academic support areas that report to the Office of the Provost, as well as for oversight of the general education program to ensure adequate course availability. She also assists in curriculum development.

As Dean of the Graduate School, which comprises more than 20 percent of students on campus and has more than 60 programs, she is responsible for facilitating, coordinating and advancing graduate school education.

Between July 2004 and June 2006, Garrick Duhaney served as associate provost and dean of the Graduate School on an interim basis. Prior to that, she was an associate professor of special education in the Department of Educational Studies. She also served as coordinator of special education for four years and chaired the Department of Educational Studies during the summers.

Before joining the New Paltz faculty in the fall of 1996, Garrick Duhaney earned her master’s degree and doctorate from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English language and English literature from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica.

Stella Deen of English, who received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Service in 2007, has taught at New Paltz for 16 years and served as chair of the English Department for four years. Under her guidance, the department, which has approximately 25 full-time faculty and more than 50 part-time faculty, completed a five-year self study and revised the undergraduate major, as well as a number of graduate level courses. Deen also serves on the Academic Affairs Committee.

In 2007, Deen was appointed as co-chair of the Campus Facilities Planning Task Force, which worked with an architectural planning consultant to develop a campus facilities master plan, which now serves as a guide in overall campus appearance, campus circulation, accessibility, sustainability and the desired future location of building projects.

Deen received her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia; her MA at the University of Virginia; her Licence en lettres modernes at the University of Paris III; and her B.A.(summa cum laude) from Hamilton College.