UAF College of Liberal Arts Interim Dean Named

Submitted by Carla Browning
Phone: (907) 474-7231
07/22/02

Phyllis Morrow has been named interim dean of the University of Alaska Fairbanks College of Liberal Arts. Morrow will replace Dean John Leipzig who is leaving to accept a position as chancellor at the St. Thomas Campus of the University of the Virgin Islands.

Morrow, who’s presently a professor of anthropology and an associate dean in CLA, came to UAF in 1978 as an instructor and field coordinator for UAF’s Cross-Cultural Education Development Program. She’s served as the director of the Yup’ik Eskimo Language Center at the Kuskokwim Community College, the anthropology department chair and the division head in CLA’s Languages and Cultures Division.

She received her master’s and Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1976 and 1987 respectively and earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1972.

With more than 1,000 enrolled students, CLA is the largest college on the UAF campus, with academic programs ranging from arts and communication, to humanities and social science.

Leipzig was named dean in 2000 and had served as interim since 1998. He came to UAF in 1982 following a year as an International Visiting Fellow in Communication Studies at Australia’s Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education. While at UAF, he has served in key positions through three major assessments and restructurings of the university system.

Leipzig received his Ph.D. in speech communication from Kent State in 1980. He received his bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University in 1969 and his master’s in speech communication from the University of South Florida in 1974. He has also been a speech instructor at Culver-Stockton College in Missouri and a high school speech, drama and English teacher in Florida.

Contact: Phyllis Morrow, Interim CLA Dean at (907) 474-7231 or Carla Browning, UAF Public Information Officer at (907) 474-7778 or by e-mail to carla.browning@alaska.edu.