Susan Acker
Managing Editor
Fred Yaffe, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, will leave his position at the end of the 2008-2009 school year.
Yaffee has been dean since 2003. He came to the University of La Verne after serving as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Frostburg State University.
Provost Alden Reimonenq made the announcement in a letter addressed to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“This academic year will be Dr. Yaffe’s last year as dean of the college before he returns to the Psychology Department,” Reimonenq wrote. “It is important at this juncture in the College’s history to have a different leadership for the future.”
Faculty who were present at a scheduled College of Arts and Sciences meeting Wednesday first heard the news directly from Yaffe.
“We were appalled by the provost’s decision to terminate the dean of arts and sciences without first consulting with the faculty of arts and sciences,” Hector Delgado, professor of sociology, said in an e-mail. “We feel strongly we should have been consulted,” Delgado said.
“I expect faculty to make an appropriate response in the very near future,” Glenn Gamst, professor of psychology, said. “The whole process was troubling.”
“The faculty generally presented itself as shocked and disturbed,” Bill Cook, professor of English said.
Yaffe and President Stephen Morgan both declined comment, citing it as a personnel matter. Reimonenq did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Susan Acker can be reached at susan.acker@laverne.edu.
