York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton, issued the following announcement to the York University community:
We are pleased to inform the York community that the search for dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) and associate vice-president (AVP) Graduate has reached a successful conclusion.
Last fall, a search committee was established, comprising members of FGS (faculty, staff, and students), as well as two members appointed by the president, and chaired by the vice-provost Academic, charged with undertaking a search, internal to York, for the next dean/AVP. FGS is at a significant point in its evolution, engaging in important discussions around revisioning intended to better serve the needs of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and to facilitate coordinated planning for recruitment and admissions, curriculum and program development, resource allocation, and graduate student support.
Thomas Loebel
Following the identification of a number of strong candidates, the search committee recommended the appointment of Professor Thomas Loebel to the position of dean/AVP. We are very pleased to announce that Professor Loebel has accepted our invitation to take up a five-year term as dean, commencing July 1, 2018. On the president’s recommendation, on June 26, the Board of Governors Executive Committee, on behalf of the Board of Governors, concurred with the recommendation for the appointment.
Professor Loebel will be well-known to members of the York community, having served in several key administrative positions in the University. He joined York in 1996 and is an associate professor in the Department of English in the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies. He has been a member of senate’s Academic Policy, Planning and Research Committee (APPRC) since 2016, serving as its chair over the past year, as the committee has played an important role in development of York’s SMA2 and in oversight of planning for the new Markham campus. He also served in 2017-18 as a member of advisory groups on Canada Research Chairs and the new Strategic Research Plan. He currently serves as Graduate Program director in the Department of English, having previously served in that role from 2009-11 and as the department’s Undergraduate Program director in 2005-08. In 2011-12, he was associate dean Academic and Research in FGS, where he was closely involved in the development of graduate degree expectations. Earlier, he was a member of a group involved in planning for the merger of the Faculty of Arts and the Atkinson Faculty, addressing the harmonization of policies, programs and structures. Beyond York, he has served as a member of the Appraisal Committee of the Ontario Council on Quality Assurance.
Professor Loebel holds degrees in several areas: a BA in political science and philosophy (McGill University), an MA in education (curriculum/music) from OISE, and an MA and PhD in English, both from the University at Buffalo (SUNY). His scholarship addresses 19th century American literature. He has taught courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in areas such as American literature, literary and cultural theory, and psychoanalytic interpretations. He also leads the English Department’s dissertation proposal seminar.
As dean/AVP, Professor Loebel will be working with the deans and associate deans of anchor Faculties and with graduate program directors in advancing program development, promotion of interdisciplinary initiatives, and provision of graduate student and postdoctoral supports including professional skills workshops. He will also represent York at external bodies such as the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies and the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies.
We wish to thank the members of the Search Committee for the Dean of FGS/AVP Graduate for their contributions to this important process. We also want to express our appreciation to Professor Fahim Quadir for his outstanding service as interim dean/AVP Graduate over the past year.
We look forward to working with Professor Loebel in the coming years as he undertakes this key new leadership role. We hope that all members of the Faculty and the University will join us in congratulating him and wishing him well.