Appointment of CHHS Dean announced

Herald staff

The search for a new dean for the College of Health and Human Services has concluded.

Neale Chumbler, head of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Georgia, has accepted the offer to become the new dean, according to an email sent Monday morning from Gordon Emslie, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.

The search began last November after the current and founding dean, John Bonaguro, wished to take a faculty position. Bonaguro also plans to take a sabbatical from July of 2015 to December. The search resumed in the summer after the initial search was declared a failure in March. 

Chumbler is not new to the Hill. He posses a master’s degree in sociology from WKU. He obtained his bachelor’s and doctorate in sociology from Murray State University and Case Western Reserve University respectively. 

If approved by the Board of Regents, Chumbler will assume the position on March 23, 2015.

“As an alumnus of WKU, I am extremely excited to be returning to the Hill,” Chumbler said in a press release. “I am honored and humbled to become the next Dean of the College of Health & Human Services and to be part of WKU’s ambitious plans for the future.”