Carl Cates
Arkansas State University has appointed Carl Cates of Valdosta State University to be the first dean of a newly structured college that combines the College of Fine Arts, the College of Humanities & Social Sciences and the College of Media & Communication.
Provost Lynita Cooksey announced Cates’ selection Thursday, with the appointment taking effect July 1.
Cates is associate dean of the College of the Arts at the Georgia institution where he has served on faculty and in academic leadership roles for the past 23 years.
“The programs that comprise this new college are central to Arkansas State’s reputation for excellence,” said ASU Chancellor Tim Hudson. “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.”
The university said one of Cates’ first projects will be guiding the reconfiguration of the three colleges into one, and working with faculty, students and staff to select a name for the new college.
Hudson has said combining the colleges will offer several benefits.
“It will allow different academic disciplines to be in closer contact with one another. We think it will create some synergies and some opportunities for new program development,” he said during a September board of trustees meeting. “It was a little difficult to get done, and I appreciate the work of the faculty committees who worked on this as well.”
Almost 1,700 students were enrolled last fall in the graduate and undergraduate programs of the three colleges, according to spokesman Thomas Moore.
Departments that will become part of the new college are: Art; Communication; Criminology, Sociology and Geography; English, Philosophy and World Languages; History; Media; Music; Political Science; and Theater.
Also included will be the Ph.D. program in heritage studies, the Fowler Center, the Bradbury Art Museum and KASU radio.
“I am incredibly honored to be named dean and eager to begin working with the students, faculty and administration at A-State,” Cates said. “I look forward to collaborating in the organization of the new college, developing an innovative strategic plan and promoting the excellent programs of the university.”
Cates has been on the faculty at Valdosta State since 1993. He taught communication arts before becoming area head for speech communication, followed by department head in communication arts, interim assistant dean, and then associate dean.
At VSU, he helped develop five new degree programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
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