By Mary Lou Hazal, Marketing Communications Assignment Editor
Commerce – Dr. David Crenshaw has been appointed interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Crenshaw is a professor of Animal Science who was serving as interim head of the department and chaired the Presidential Search Advisory Committee to recommend a new president for A&M-Commerce.
Dr. Ricky Dobbs, head of the Department of History, has been named assistant dean and will assume his duties in August. He will focus on initiatives to increase student enrollment and retention in the College.
Dr. Linda Matthei will continue as assistant dean and will focus on student issues.
"I am looking forward to the next few months and helping maintain the momentum that former Dean James Klein began," Crenshaw said.
As interim ag sciences department head, he forged new relationships with the various agricultural programs in the Texas A&M University System. This has resulted in the transfer of all agronomic research and extension activities from the Texas A&M-Dallas Research and Extension Center to A&M-Commerce.
An A&M-Commerce faculty member since 1984, Crenshaw previously was professor of animal science and academic coordinator for the College of Agriculture and Home Economics at Texas A&I University, now A&M-Kingsville.
He is a native of Columbia, Mo., and graduated with a B.S. in animal husbandry, M.S. in animal breeding and Ph.D. in animal cytogenetics, all from the University of Missouri.
Klein resigned earlier this month to become provost and vice president of student affairs at Southern Oregon University.
A national search will be conducted to name a new dean for the A&M-Commerce College of Arts and Sciences.