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First new hopeful to meet UH today

Langland, an English literature scholar, is dean of humanities 
at California-Davis

Cougar News Staff

The first of two recently announced provost candidates will meet the campus in an open forum this afternoon at the University Hilton.

Elizabeth Langland, dean of the Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies at the University of California-Davis, was added to the list of candidates March 11 along with Sharon Stephens Brehm, former chancellor of Indiana University Bloomington . Langland, who specializes in feminist and gender theory and Victorian literature, completed her graduate degree in English literature at the University of Chicago.

She began her academic career in Vanderbilt University's English department in 1975 and helped begin the school's women's studies program. 

After seven years at Vanderbilt and three years as chairwoman of the English department at Converse College in South Carolina, Langland became a professor at the University of Florida.

In 1995, Langland became associate dean for faculty affairs in UF's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. In that position, her responsibilities included overseeing tenure and promotions, and recruiting and retaining faculty.

Since becoming dean of her division at UC-Davis in 1999, Langland has had to deal with a 2.5-percent cut from the school's $20 million budget. 

In a December interview at the University of Iowa, where Langland was a candidate for provost, she said she would talk to students, faculty and staff before making cuts in departments or programs.

"An open, consultative process is the best, if you have time," Langland said at UI.

During her time at Davis, Langland has hired 80 new faculty members, more than half of them women and more than one-third underrepresented minorities.

She worked to strengthen core studies in humanities, allocated resources to programs in gender and ethnic studies and reorganized the school's writing program.

She has also expanded foreign exchange programs, which she said enriched universities. 

"It is important to promote the international dimension of a university," Langland said in Iowa. "Some kind of international experience is wonderful for students."

The forum for Langland will be at 4 p.m. in the University Hilton's Shamrock Room. 

All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend. The forum will begin with a statement from Langland and will finish with a Q-and-A session with the audience.

A forum for Brehm will be held Wednesday afternoon.

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