Office of the Dean
James Parente Appointed CLA Dean
James A. Parente, Jr.,
Dean
Professor James A. Parente, Jr., the College of Liberal Arts' newly appointed dean, will be an outstanding and visionary leader and strategic thinker who will promote excellence across the entire college, according to the individual who selected Parente for the dean position, University of Minnesota Provost Thomas Sullivan.
Parente was appointed by Sullivan on October 13. The appointment is expected to be finalized and approved by the University Board of Regents at an upcoming meeting.
“As dean of this academically diverse and important college, he will be committed to the values of deep, broad thinking and teaching, and he will ensure that CLA flourishes as an intellectual community,” said Sullivan. “Those who know his exceptional academic work know that it spans multiple time periods, disciplines and languages, and know also the enormous respect he has for the social sciences, humanities and art.”
Parente, who has served as interim dean since September 2007, is a professor and former chair of the Department of German, Scandinavian and Dutch and associate dean for faculty and research. He has been a member of the university's faculty since 1993 and has previously served on the faculty at Princeton University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He earned both his Ph.D. and M.A. from Yale University, in German languages and literatures.
“I am honored to have been appointed dean of CLA,” said Parente. “For me, there are few tasks as exciting as leading and shaping the teaching and research mission of the college, of strengthening our academic base, and of building lasting relationships to the community whom the University of Minnesota was founded to serve.”
Parente's candidacy received strong and consistent support from faculty, students, staff, and alumni. “With Jim, CLA has a dean who is extremely thoughtful and has great ideas for where the college can go,” said Susan Craddock, chair of the College of Liberal Arts Council of Chairs and associate professor in the Department of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies. “His obvious integrity and openness lend themselves to good working relations across multiple sectors of CLA and beyond, something that only improves the strength of CLA as a whole. His appointment is well deserved.”
In an article about Parente's appointment appearing in The Minnesota Daily on October 16, CLA Student Board president Michael Mensinga said that Parente is a great choice because he “seems really, really open to what the students want.” Bethany Khan, CLA Student Board member and former board president also quoted in the article, agreed. “He's quite the well-rounded gentleman,” he said. “He's really comfortable in his role as someone that we go to for advice, for help. When we bring him concerns and complaints, he's very knowledgeable.”
Parente succeeds Steven Rosenstone as dean.