Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Department heads, chairs approved by U. of I. Board of Trustees

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The board of trustees of the University of Illinois met today (July 15) in Chicago and approved the following faculty appointments for the Urbana-Champaign campus, effective Aug. 16 unless otherwise noted:

• Daniel R. Grayson, chair of the department of mathematics. Grayson served as interim chair of the department since mid-July 2003. A mathematics professor since 1988 and member of the Campus Honors Faculty since 1995, Grayson will continue in those capacities. Grayson earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago, both in 1972, and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976.

• Walter George Harrington, head of the department of journalism, effective July 16. Harrington, who had been appointed to serve as interim head beginning June 21, has been a professor of journalism since 1996 and will continue to hold that rank. Harrington earned a bachelor of arts from Blackburn College (1972) and master of arts degrees in sociology (1974) and journalism (1975), both from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

• Robert J. Hauser, head of the department of agricultural and consumer economics. Hauser, who has been a professor of agricultural and consumer economics since 1993, will continue to hold that rank. He earned a bachelor of science and a doctorate from Iowa State University in 1976 and 1982, respectively.

• Steven J. Helle, head of the department of advertising. Helle was appointed interim department head April 1 and has been a professor of advertising since 1986. He has been a professor of journalism since 1980 and will continue to hold the rank of professor of journalism. Helle earned bachelor’s (1976), master’s (1979) and law degrees (1979) at the University of Iowa.

• Karen Lee Kelsky, head of the department of East Asian languages and cultures. A professor of anthropology and of East Asian languages and cultures since 2003, Kelsky will continue to hold those ranks. Kelsky earned a bachelor’s degree (1985) from the University of Michigan and a master’s (1992) and doctorate (1996), both from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu.

• Futing Liao, head of the department of sociology. A professor of sociology and of statistics since 2003, Liao will continue to hold those ranks. Liao earned a bachelor’s degree from China Peking Language Institute, New York (1982); a master’s from the University of Georgia, Atlanta (1985); and a doctorate from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (1989).

• Armine Kotin Mortimer, head of the department of French. Mortimer will continue to hold professorships in the department of French and the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, appointments she has held since 1988. She earned a bachelor’s degree (1964) from Radcliffe College, a master’s degree (1970) from the University of California at Los Angeles and a doctorate (1974) from Yale University.

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