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������ College of Liberal Arts names new dean

August 8, 2011

University Relations

Johnny Payne has been named dean of the at ������. He will begin his tenure in August 2011.

“I consider the CLA of ������ an exciting college with a talented faculty,” says Payne. “Its deep expertise in Alaska Native culture and the circumpolar region makes it distinctive and gives it the potential to be one of the most distinguished colleges in America.”

Payne comes to ������ from the University of Texas El Paso. "We're delighted to have Dr. Payne coming here,” says CLA interim dean Burns Cooper. “He is a person of great energy and creativity, someone who's not only run programs but brought them into being. I'm looking forward to seeing what new directions he'll find for the college."

“What most attracted me to this position were the individual dispositions of the professors and their obvious passion for what they know, teach and do,” says Payne. “I hope to be a catalyst in bringing those individual talents into a closer working relationship. And I am thrilled to have the chance to live in Alaska.”

Payne brings 20 years of experience working in higher education. He worked at the University of Texas El Paso from 2002 – 2011, most recently as assistant dean for special projects. During that time he served as chair and founder of the department of creative writing, he founded an online MFA in creative writing program tailored for international students and founded a bilingual MFA of creative writing program. He has served as a faculty member at Florida Atlantic University and Northwestern University and as an artist in residence at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Payne is an established novelist and playwright whose works include “Kentuckiana,” “North of Patagonia,” “Chalk Lake,” “She-Calf and Other Quechua Folk Tales,” “The Devil in Disputanta” and “The Serpent’s Lover.”

Payne received his doctorate in English and comparative literature from Stanford University, an MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama and a BA in Spanish from Indiana University.