Former Interim Dean of the Graduate School Don Pope-Davis has replaced Jean Ann Linney as University vice president and associate provost.
Linney said she would leave the University after three years on the post to become the dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Pope-Davis replaced her on Aug. 15, the same day Linney took office in Birmingham.
In a news release, Provost Thomas Burish called Pope-Davis "an accomplished researcher, teacher and administrator with an unwavering commitment to Notre Dame's Catholic mission."
Despite Linney's short tenure at Notre Dame, Burish said, her contributions were numerous and will have a lasting impact.
"Jean Ann worked hard and effectively to oversee a broad array of academic and administrative areas, including the tenure and promotion procedures for faculty, new faculty orientation, the Snite Museum, Notre Dame University Press, and a large number of other areas," Burish said in an e-mail.
Her resume and work at Notre Dame made her a strong candidate for the UAB position, according to the UAB Web site. Philip Way, associate provost for undergraduate programs at UAB, said he conducted "a very thorough national search and brought forward candidates who truly were exemplary."
Linney said she appreciates the importance of behavioral sciences in understanding the world's most difficult conflicts, and she said she is looking forward to working with the UAB faculty and students to produce more research on those disciplines.
"UAB is a major research university and the programs in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences have the potential to make a significant difference in the world. I am excited to be a part of that," Linney said in a statement. "Many of the world's most difficult issues can be better understood with contributions from the disciplines within the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences."
Burish praised Pope-Davis' contributions to the school's racial diversity and graduate programs, as well as his "willingness to serve in this critically important position."
Pope-Davis was associate vice president of the Graduate School from 2004-06 and as acting dean during the 2006-07 academic year after Jeffrey Kantor stepped down in July 2006 to return to the classroom full-time.
He has been coordinator of the University's Multicultural Research Institute since 2000, and last year he was also appointed chair of Notre Dame's Faculty Board on Athletics and its NCAA faculty athletics representative.
