Professor Allen Renear has been named the dean of the school. His appointment becomes effective August 16, pending approval of the university’s board of trustees. Renear has been serving as interim dean since February 2012.
“He has worked diligently to improve the financial condition of the school, made critical hires in strategic areas of faculty strength and is working with faculty on a shared vision that will ensure GSLIS remains the top information school in the 21st century,” said Ilesanmi Adesida, the vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost for the Urbana campus.
Renear earned his bachelor’s degree at Bowdoin College and his master’s degree and doctorate at Brown University. Prior to coming to Illinois in 2001, Renear directed the Scholarly Technology Group at Brown. Renear also has served as associate dean for research for GSLIS and has a faculty appointment in the department of philosophy.
Renear’s work focuses on the development of formal ontologies for scientific and cultural objects, and the use of those ontologies in information system design, scholarly publishing and data curation in the sciences and the humanities.
His research has been supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Science Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.