Arkansas State University in Jonesboro has named Carl Cates of Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, to be the first dean of a newly structured college that combines programs in the fine arts, humanities, social sciences, media and communication. The appointment will take effect July 1.
Cates currently is associate dean of the College of the Arts at Valdosta State, where he has served on the faculty and in academic leadership roles for the past 23 years. One of Cates’ first projects will be guiding the merging of the three existing colleges — the College of Fine Arts, the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and the College of Media & Communication — into one, and working with faculty, students and staff to select a name for the new college.
“The programs that comprise this new college are central to Arkansas State’s reputation for excellence,” said Tim Hudson, chancellor. “Dr. Cates brings a depth of experience in these areas that will be very valuable to A-State’s further development as a destination university.”
Cates, who has served on the faculty at Valdosta State since 1993, taught communication arts before becoming area head for speech communication, followed by department head in communication arts, interim assistant dean and then associate dean. He has been involved with the renovation of mass media and communication facilities and has worked with faculty members in art, theater, mass media and languages to attract grants, private donations and in-kind gifts. Working with his associates at VSU, he helped develop five new degree programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
Cates, a native of Odessa, Texas, has a bachelor’s degree in mass communication and a master’s in human communication, both from Abilene Christian University. He completed his doctoral degree in speech communication and rhetoric at Florida State University.
See more of this week’s Movers & Shakers, and submit your own announcement at ArkansasBusiness.com/Movers.
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