For Paul D'Anieri, the new dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, spending his first week in meetings is part of the learning process he needs to put CLAS on the academic map -even if it means the punk rock enthusiast feels a little self-conscious when listening to his old Clash records.
After all, he is now "the man" of UF's largest college and is in a position to make changes that affect almost every UF student.
"Rebellion is a lot more fun than responsibility," D'Anieri said. "But at some point if you want to change things, you've got to be part of an institution."
D'Anieri, 43, has been living in his northwest Gainesville home for about three weeks. Unpacked boxes abound in both his home and new office.
He said the move to Florida was relatively popular within his seven-person family, especially with his wife, Laura, who works in marketing and hates cold weather. She was "thrilled" to move from Bonner Springs, Kan., a town of about 6,000 people near Kansas City, to the greener and warmer pastures of the Sunshine State, he said.
His last day as associate dean of humanities at the University of Kansas was June 4. He said it was hard to leave behind a good environment with his former coworkers, but he couldn't pass up the chance to lead CLAS.
D'Anieri, a political science professor, signed a five-year renewable contract in April that guarantees him an annual salary of $225,000. He is the first CLAS dean in 20 years with a background in social sciences.
He said he won't be teaching any political science classes this fall, but he hopes to pick up a class or two next year.
John Leavey, chairman of the CLAS Faculty Council and English professor, plans to meet with D'Anieri on Wednesday. Leavey hasn't seen him since his interview in March.
"It was clear he was extremely interesting," Leavey said.
D'Anieri said he was not involved in the budget decisions made by Joe Glover, former CLAS interim dean and now UF provost, because he was in Kansas and in no position to make such calls.
CLAS lost the most faculty of all colleges as part of its 6 percent budget cut, and the college's languages were reconfigured into two departments: modern foreign languages and Spanish language and literature.
Even though he didn't make the call to merge the languages, D'Anieri said it should not be assumed moves such as this would weaken the college and its programs.
For example, he said there were five specific language departments at the University of Kansas, which actually gave the college less room to incorporate new languages into the curriculum and led to personality conflicts.
While it's too early for him to set specific goals, he said his ultimate hope is to bring the college into the realm of top-tier liberal arts programs in the country.
Doing this, he said, can be accomplished only by promoting the growth of "the heart of the university" -the faculty.
