Ithaca College is beginning two national searches for new deans of the School of Music and the Roy H. Park School of Communications.

In an email sent to the college’s faculty, Chris McNamara, Faculty Council chair and clinical associate professor and clinic director in the Department of Physical Therapy, wrote that the college will conduct open searches beginning in late October or early November. La Jerne Cornish, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, will select the members of the search committees for the new deans. 

Consultants from Witt/Kieffer, an executive search firm that has consulted the college on searches in the past, will be helping with the search. Witt/Kieffer will meet with the search committees and members of the campus community in listening sessions Oct. 28 and Oct. 30 to discuss the search process.

Cornish announced Sept. 13 that Karl Paulnack, current dean of the School of Music, will leave the college at the end of the 2019–20 academic year. Cornish announced Oct. 8 that Diane Gayeski, the current dean of the Park School, will step down from her position at the end of the 2019–20 academic year. Gayeski will take a sabbatical during Fall 2020 and then return to the college to teach in the Department of Strategic Communication.

The search committees will conduct the first rounds of interviews in February 2020 and will invite finalists to visit the college in March 2020.

The cochairs of the search committee for the dean of the School of Music will be Sara Haefeli, associate professor in the Department of Performance Studies, and Baruch Whitehead, associate professor in the Department of Music Education. 

The search committee will also include Michael Caporizzo, assistant professor in the Department of Performance Studies; Mark Radice, professor in the Department of Music Theory, History and Composition; Ivy Walz, associate professor in the Department of Performance Studies; Catherine Weidner, professor and chair of the Department of Theatre Arts; Becky Jordan, manager of the Library of Ensemble Music and Kinyon Music Education Collections; Gretchen Van Valen, associate director of Constituent Relations; Ian Woods, associate professor in the Department of Biology; Melanie Stein, dean of the School of Humanities and Sciences; seniors Wren Murray and Daniel Yapp; and sophomore Becca Emery.  

Caporizzo said via email that he is honored to serve on the search committee for the new dean for the School of Music. 

“It is a rare and humbling privilege to engage at this capacity in the selection of a leader,” he said via email. “I believe I bring a unique perspective, and I am looking forward to working with my excellent colleagues on the committee.”

Haefeli and Baruch declined to comment. 

The search committee for the dean of the Park School will be composed of four faculty members from the Park School, two faculty members from outside the Park School, a staff member, a Division of Institutional Advancement member, one dean and two students in the Park School. The cochairs of the committee have not yet been determined. The members of the committee will be announced Oct. 25. 

Cornish did not reply to requests for comment. 

Dave Maley, director of public relations, said via email that this is not the first time the college has held two simultaneous dean searches. He said the college will update the campus community on the search processes as it progresses.