Gonzaga University Reappoints Deans, Names Interim Dean

SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University has reappointed three deans and named an interim dean as the 2021-2022 academic year unfolds.

Ken Anderson will continue as dean of the School of Business Administration, which is celebrating its centennial year. Anderson, who has taught at Gonzaga since 1986, was interim dean from 2014-16 and has served as dean since then.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to continue leading one of the top business schools in the country,” Anderson said. “We have an incredible faculty, a tremendous staff and, of course, outstanding students. I am very excited about where we are headed.”

Paul Bracke will remain dean of the Foley Library, a position he has held since 2016. In this role, Bracke also provides leadership and oversight for the Office of Sponsored Research and Programs (OSRP).

Bracke, who came to Gonzaga from Purdue University, also has been named associate provost for the new Institute for Research and Interdisciplinary Initiatives, created to assist faculty and students in research and scholarly work. It is a new unit in the Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President and includes OSRP.

Jason Houston has been reappointed dean of the Gonzaga in Florence program. Houston developed a study center in Arezzo, Italy, as associate professor of Italian at the University of Oklahoma before joining Gonzaga in 2016.

Growth in the Florence program has been substantial under Houston’s leadership and he is credited with sustaining a strong web of relationships there during the pandemic crisis.

Back on GU’s campus, Matt Bahr has been named interim dean of the School of Nursing and Human Physiology. A sociologist by training, Bahr has served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for several years and was its interim dean in the 2019-20 academic year.

The reappointment of Jacob Rooksby as dean of the Gonzaga School of Law was announced earlier. Rooksby, who came to GU in 2018 from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, received a five-year renewal.

Other academic deans on the university leadership team are Annmarie Cano, College of Arts and Sciences; Yolanda Gallardo, School of Education; Karlene Hoo, School of Engineering and Applied Science; and Rosemarie Hunter, School of Leadership Studies.

“Working with the current deans has been one of the most rewarding experiences during my 38 years in the professoriate,” said Deena Gonzalez, provost and senior vice president. “They bring grace, commitment and our mission into their work and serve faculty, students and staff in advancing academic affairs each and every step of the way.

“Gonzaga is rewarded, as am I, in having such colleagues as we begin to move into a new Integrate Science and Engineering Building, work with community partners and the University of Washington School of Medicine in another new facility and navigate through the pandemic. Truly, the deans have demonstrated how and why we are all in this together.”