Charles Morris III
Syracuse University Interim Vice Chancellor and Provost Liz Liddy has appointed Professor Charles E. Morris III to chair the search for the next dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Morris is professor and chair of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, and affiliated faculty in the LGBT Studies Program.
“I’m very pleased to announce that Charles has agreed to help in this process as we begin to prepare for new leadership at the College of Visual and Performing Arts,” Liddy says. “The college is a thriving community with its tremendously talented students—in all the different fields of performance, visual art, design and commentary—and its dedicated, gifted faculty and knowledgeable staff. In this time of transition, we need to focus on the college’s strengths and opportunities for even greater achievement with a new leader, and Charles will be able to provide important insight, counsel and leadership in this search.”
Morris has been at Syracuse since January 2013, after 13 years on the faculty at Boston College and Vanderbilt University. Morris’ research concerns rhetorics of GLBTQ history and memory; his most recent book is “An Archive of Hope: Harvey Milk’s Speeches and Writings,” published by University of California Press in 2013. He is co-founding editor of QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking (Michigan State University Press).
“This is a significant moment of opportunity for VPA, the second-largest college in the University, and I am honored to be entrusted with chairing the search committee for the new dean,” Morris says. “VPA’s diverse community is eager to select a dean who will lead with vision and ambition, attentive to the needs and promise of this college’s remarkably talented and accomplished faculty and staff. Representative voice, deep deliberation and discerning judgment will be the principles that guide the committee as we seek to chart VPA’s bright future.”
College of Visual and Performing Arts Dean Ann Clarke announced in September that she will step down as dean at the conclusion of the 2015-16 academic year. Clarke, who has served as VPA’s dean since 2008, will take a one-year research leave and return to the faculty in fall 2017.
Members of the full search committee will be announced in the next few weeks.
