SLIS associate dean appointed as faculty executive assistant to the president

Herman Totten, associate dean and Regents Professor of library and information sciences, has been appointed faculty executive assistant to the president of UNT.

In the past, one person has filled the role of UNT faculty executive assistant to the chancellor and president, but that position was recently split into two positions — one executive assistant to serve on the president's staff and one executive assistant to serve on the chancellor's staff.

The faculty executive assistant to the president position is designed to ensure the president's office has a direct representative from the faculty involved in all university-related discussions to bring a faculty perspective to problem resolution, according to Norval Pohl, UNT president.

"The ideal candidate knows how the university is organized and who the key players are and is capable of working cooperatively with everyone involved in each issue," Pohl says.

The position has a two-year term so that the current view of faculty is represented.

Totten has been on the UNT faculty since 1977. He is the former president of the Texas Library Association, the nation's largest state library association. During his more than 29 years as a member of TLA, he has served as both chair and member of many of its committees.

He is a life member of the American Library Association, where he has served as chair of both the ALA Committee on Accreditation and the ALA Committee on Minority Concerns. He is currently an active member of the ALA Council and several ALA divisions.

Among his many awards and honors are the 2001 ALA Melvil Dewey Award, the 1999 Association for Library and Information Science Education Outstanding Teacher Award and the 1992 ALA Black Caucus Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Library and Information Science Education.

BY WILLIAM ABERCROMBIE paiswri2@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

• UNT enrollment reaches 30,256 students — an all-time high
• UNT Campus Master Plan provides beauty, functionality for future of campus
• UNT faculty, staff encouraged to participate in Parent and Family Weekend
• Hispanic Friends of UNT conference Oct. 4
• Staff Council elects officers
• Former Israeli Defense Force member to visit UNT
• UNT is staying on top of compliance issues
• Decorate with Texas' Capitol

homepage