New Mexico State University has named Enrico Pontelli as Interim Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Executive Vice President and Provost Dan Howard announced the appointment to the Las Cruces campus on Thursday, Feb. 18. Pontelli will fill the position vacated by Christa Slaton, who was reassigned to the position of senior administrator.
Pontelli is an NMSU Regents Professor with nearly two decades of service to the university. He has been Interim Associate Dean for Planning and Academic Resources in the College of Arts and Sciences since 2014. He is also an alumnus, earning his Ph.D. in computer science from NMSU in 1997.
“We are fortunate to have such an accomplished academic, and highly talented administrator, available to serve as Interim Dean of the university’s largest college,” Howard said. “I am confident that he will work effectively with the team of associate deans in the College of Arts and Sciences to serve the needs of our students and faculty and further the growth and positive development of the college.”
Pontelli agreed that a college as large as arts and sciences requires close collaboration with the associate deans.
“I know I have a good team,” Pontelli said. “I accepted this position because the other associate deans and the entire staff in the dean’s office are really strong and I know they will continue to work very hard for the College of Arts and Sciences in serving our very diverse student population.”
“We serve every single student in the university and we plan to keep moving forward. A strong Arts and Sciences college is the bedrock of the university. We need to keep doing what we have been doing, making students our priority. The field is changing, the university is changing and we have to be dynamic and continue meeting the needs of our students.”
In the coming months, Howard will meet with the faculty and staff of the College of Arts and Sciences to discuss the search for a permanent dean, which will begin in the fall of 2016.
Information from NMSU