The UF Honors Program search committee has narrowed its search for a new director down to three finalists, who include the current interim director, Melissa Johnson.
Johnson and the other finalists, Kathy Cooke, founding dean of the University of South Alabama’s honors program, and Michael Blandino, assistant dean of Louisiana State University’s honors program, will interview for the position between March 20 and April 15, UF spokesperson Cynthia Roldan said.
Since its formation in January, the search committee held a series of meetings and selected six semi-finalists Feb. 17 to move forward with.
Johnson took over the honors program in the interim after UF fired director Mark Law in August. She has been an administrator at the program since 2005 and an affiliate faculty member with the Bob Graham Center of Public Service since 2014.
Kathy Cook is a professor of history who was the founding dean of both Quinnipiac University’s honors program in 2005 and USA's in 2017. She’s also the former president of the Southern Regional Honors Council.
Michael Blandino is a triple graduate of LSU, serving as the assistant dean of the Ogden Honors College since 2012. Before that, he was the director of the college’s student services.
Contact Christian at ccasale@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @vanityhack.
Christian Casale is a history senior and the university desk editor for The Alligator. In his spare time, he loves writing his bio for the website and watching movies alone in the dark.
