Committee Recommends Wallace Daniel to Dean Position

WACO, Texas - Subject to approval by the Board of Regents' Academic Affairs Committee and the entire board, Dr. Wallace L. Daniel has been recommended as the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Baylor University.
The Baylor Board of Regents will act on the recommendation, made by a campus-wide search committee, at its next meeting, set for May 16-17 at the Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.
"I have enormous respect for Wallace Daniel as a scholar and a teacher," said Dr. Donald D. Schmeltekopf, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "He has been a true friend of Baylor's mission, and I genuinely look forward to working with him."
Daniel has served as chairman of the Department of History since January of 1992. He came to Baylor in 1971 as an assistant professor of history. He was later named associate professor, professor, director of Soviet and East European Studies and director of the Honors Program. He was also named the Ralph L. and Bessie Mae Lynn Professor of History.
He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics in 1964 and a doctorate in history in 1973.
Last month, Daniel was named a Fulbright scholar for 1996-97 and will do extensive research on "Religion and Democracy in Post-communist Russia," a project which will be conducted for three months in Moscow and one month at Oxford University in England. According to the Fulbright office, Daniel's project is one of only two funded concerning all of Eastern Europe and Russia.
Daniel was one of three finalists for the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, which is the largest academic unit at Baylor. Three other finalists came from other universities.
Dr. William F. Cooper will remain dean of the College of Arts and Sciences through May 31. He had announced his retirement from the position last year but will continue to teach courses in the Department of Philosophy.