Meet the new members of the academic dream team
A series of retirements and promotions vacated six dean positions in 2013. Appointments to each role were announced in April.
“The new deans, along with deans who have been serving UCA, will provide the institution with a solid leadership for our academic pursuits. These highly qualified persons will ensure that UCA continues its excellent academic reputation,” said UCA President Tom Courtway.
The new appointees will serve on the Council of Deans. The council comprises the deans of the six colleges, dean of the Graduate School, and the associate provosts. The council acts in an advisory capacity to the provost and reviews all academic policies, along with new courses and programs that are recommended by the General Education Council, the Undergraduate Council, and the Graduate Council. The provost chairs the council. In short, the Council of Deans is the “academic dream team” for the campus.
Dr. Steven Runge, executive vice president and provost, said, “I am very pleased to have all of our Dean positions filled and to have our team in place. The individuals we have hired are of the highest caliber and are already making positive changes in their respective units.”
Dr. Michael Hargis
College of Business Dean
Hargis earned a doctorate from Wayne State University. Before coming to UCA in 2006, Hargis was an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Hargis has served in a number of different faculty and administrative roles during his tenure at UCA, including being the EPIC Residential College rector and an associate professor in the Department of Marketing and Management. His research has been published in respected journals such as Personnel Psychology, Journal of Managerial Issues, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Human Relations. He serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Organizational Behavior and several regional and state advisory boards focusing on entrepreneurship and economic development.
Dr. Stephanie Bellar
Graduate School Dean
Bellar served as the interim dean of the Graduate School at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has more than 11 years of administrative experience working in graduate education and received her doctorate in political science from the University of Kentucky.
She also served as an associate dean and director of political science/master’s in public administration and a director of recruitment and retention at the graduate level. Bellar has published many articles in the area of representation of women on corporate boards in Business Perspectives, the Journal of Business Ethics, and other journals.
Dr. Jimmy H. Ishee
College of Health and Behavioral Sciences Dean
Ishee served at Texas Woman’s University (TWU) as dean of the College of Health Sciences starting in August 2005. At TWU, Ishee was involved in the development of clinical doctorates in occupational therapy and physical therapy.
Prior to TWU, Ishee served as dean of the School of Health Science at Georgia College & State University.
Ishee earned his Ph.D. from Florida State University and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in health, physical education and recreation from Delta State University.
Dr. Stephen Addison
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Dean
Addison joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCA in 1984 after completing a doctorate in physics at the University of Mississippi. Addison has been active in leadership of the college since 1995, first serving as assistant dean, then as associate dean from 2000 until 2003. He was chair of the physics and astronomy department in 2002 and served in this role until becoming interim dean of the college in 2012.
In addition to serving as dean, Addison will continue to serve as co-director of UCA STEMteach, a program that is changing the way in which secondary education teachers are prepared to teach science and mathematics.
Terry Wright
College of Fine Arts and Communication Dean
Wright holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theater from Morningside College, a Master of Arts in English and American Literature from the University of Arkansas, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from Bowling Green State University.
His writing has widely appeared in magazines and journals ranging from “McSweeney’s” to “Rolling Stone.” He received an Individual Artist Award in Poetry from the Arkansas Arts Council in 2002.
He has taught at UCA since 1985 in both the departments of English and writing. He taught in the UCA Honors College for 20 years, including classes in film studies, new media studies, poetry, science fiction, and horror fiction.