McDaniel College Provost Thomas Falkner has announced that he will resign from the college’s administration effective Dec. 31, according to an e-mail sent by college president Roger Casey to the faculty.
Falkner, who has served in his current position since being hired by McDaniel in 2004, told the college’s Board of Trustees Friday that, after he steps down as provost, he will take a sabbatical in spring 2013, and then return to McDaniel to teach classics for at least three semesters after his sabbatical.
In the e-mail, Dr. Casey commended Falkner for his “academic leadership” as provost.
“With Tom’s guidance, we adopted the McDaniel Plan, our distinctive curricular model; added new academic programs in areas such as Arabic, Asia, and cinema; created a comprehensive program for first-year students; and strengthened our focus on international studies and community engagement, among a litany of other achievements.”
Dr. Casey also said, “Tom has been a tremendous asset to me in my presidency and will be missed greatly when he returns to the faculty.”
In announcing his resignation, Falkner told the board that “I will only note that almost anything of value that a chief academic officer might hope to accomplish is of necessity a shared effort—most especially with the faculty, of course, but also with the many groups, entities and constituencies that are the College.”
“It has been a joy to be a part of that collaboration,” he said.
President Casey also said in his statement that he “will be consulting with the Faculty Council and academic administrators” to develop a plan for hiring a new provost in the next few weeks.
