For members of the College of Arts and Sciences, there isn’t a question of how exactly Paul Twigg will lead the college.
The longtime biology professor has led the college since September as interim dean. Thursday, he made his case on why he should lead the College in a forum to faculty, staff and students.
Twigg started off the forum by acknowledging the fact that the timeline for finding a full time dean was accelerated. When Twigg took over as interim dean from Ryan Teten, the understanding amongst faculty at the time was that he would hold the position in an interim basis for two years.
“In the name of stability and being able to move forward on what the Senior Vice Chancellor [Kristin Majocha, Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs] considers to be important issues, she does not want to wait,” Twigg said. “I feel like Ive been auditioning for this role for a while, both as associate dean and as your interim dean.”
Twigg also revealed that he was a finalist for other administrative positions at universities last year and almost left UNK, seriously considering one that would have placed him within four hours of his mother. While not wanting to leave the university, reassurances from the Chancellor made Twigg reconsider, and ultimately stayed.
Alongside being the interim dean for the College of Arts and Sciences since September, he served as Associate Dean from 2018-2022, and was Chair of the Music, Theatre, and Dance department in 2020-21. Previous to the College of Arts and Sciences being formed through a merger of colleges in 2018, Twigg served as an assistant and associate dean for the College of Natural and Social Sciences from 2016-18.
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