History of CLASS
In 1989, the Georgia Board of Regents voted to promote Georgia Southern College to Georgia Southern University. When university status became effective on July 1, 1990 , Georgia Southern became the first new university in Georgia in twenty-one years and the third largest university in Georgia. At that time, Georgia Southern's academic credit programs were administered by six colleges, each directed by a dean. |
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Dr. Warren K. “Spike” Jones was then Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, having held the position since 1973. The College of Arts and Sciences housed fifteen academic departments: Art, Biology, Chemistry, Communication Arts, Developmental Studies, English and Philosophy, Foreign Languages, Geology and Geography, History, Mathematics and Computer Science, Music, Physics, Political science, Psychology, and Sociology and Anthropology. By the fall of 1992, Dean Jones was looking toward retirement and GSU began discussing restructuring the College of Arts and Sciences to form a more manageable academic unit where the dean could be more of an advocate for the College's programs. |
In April of 1993, Dean Jones formally announced his retirement, and in June of that year, Dr. Leo Parrish was named interim dean. When asked about expected changes in the structure of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Parrish suggested that replacing Dean Jones could take two people. In September, Dr. Harry Carter, Vice President for Academic Affairs, officially recommended reorganizing the college. Later that same year, Georgia Southern University established the College of Liberal Arts and Social Science (CLASS), with "a purpose to educate others to understand nature, society, and each other." The reorganized college consisted of Art, Communication Arts, Developmental Studies (composition, reading, and study skills), English and Philosophy, Foreign Languages, History, Music, Political Science, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology, ten of the fifteen departments which formerly made up the College of Arts and Sciences. |
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In January 1994, a nation-wide search began for a CLASS Dean. In May, Dr. Roosevelt Newson, Jr., Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, PA, was chosen to serve as the Dean of the newly founded College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Dr. Newson held a Ph. D. in Musical Arts, an MA and a BA in Music, all from Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA. He had also completed post-doctoral work in the professional studies certificate program at the Julliard School of Music in New York. Dr. Newson's knowledge of Georgia 's known support for higher education fueled his desire to come to GSU. Dean Newson served as CLASS Dean until 2000. The next year, Dr. Jeffrey Buller served as acting Dean, and CLASS began a national search to replace Dean Newson. |
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On August 1, 2001, Dr. Katherine Conway-Turner took the reigns as Dean and Professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. Dean Conway-Turner came to Georgia Southern from the University of Delaware where she served as a department chair in addition to experiences as associate dean, director of a women's studies program, and coordinator of a graduate program. She had been an ACE Fellow in 1996-97 at the College of New Jersey, a post-doctoral fellow in mental health patient advocacy at the University of Southern California, and a National Institute of Mental Health post-doctoral fellow in psychiatric epidemiology at UCLA. Dean Conway-Turner served as CLASS Dean until 2004. |
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After an extensive national search, on April 1, 2004, Dr. Jane Rhoades Hudak, Professor of Art, became the Dean. As the Georgia Southern's director of Graduate Programs in Art Education since 1989, Dean Hudak is known for her impressive record of scholarship, teaching, and service. She attended the University of London and graduated with a BFA from Capital University and a Ph. D. from The Ohio State University. She served as acting art department chair 1995-96 and was an ACE Fellow in 2003-04. She is known for her international work leading cultural exchanges (China, Mongolia, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji) and co-founding ArtReach, a non-governmental organization committed to helping children through art therapy in war torn areas of the world. She is best known for her co-authored textbook series, Art Connections (SRA/McGraw-Hill) |
Under the strong leadership of Deans Newson, Buller, Conway-Turner, and Hudak, the College of Liberal Arts has continued to grow. Today, CLASS seeks to share with students, staff, and administration a dedication to the life of the mind. That dedication involves all members of the College in a fundamental concern for excellent, innovative teaching, and for the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge for its own sake. At present, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences includes ten departments: |
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Together, these departments offer forty-four undergraduate degree programs, eight graduate degree programs and one doctoral program. In CLASS, the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts cooperate in the task of interpreting and understanding the human experience. This task brings together the liberal arts and social sciences to provide a central place within the university to investigate, ponder, and express creatively the possibilities of humanity, what everyone is or can be. By Ellen Hendrix Sources: George-Anne, April 17, 1992 through May 26, 1994 |
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