Leslie Abel Flemming became the new dean of Ohio University's College of Arts and Sciences, assuming her new position this past July. Dr. Flemming comes to Athens from the University of Maine where she served, from 1990 until 1996, as the dean of the College of Arts and Humanities.

At Maine, Dean Flemming was the chief executive officer for the college, which is comprised of departments in the humanities and the visual and performing arts, as well as an Institute for teaching English as a Second Language. Her, major accomplishments at the University of Maine include implementing a strategic planning process to meet downsizing goals, developing a nationally recognized interdisciplinary program for first-year students comprised of courses taught by faculty from three separate colleges, creating grants for the development of innovative courses and for undergraduate teaching assistants, and strengthening the documentation of teaching in annual faculty reports and promotion-and tenure dossiers.

In addition to negotiating the transfer of the Art Education Program to the College of Arts and Humanities, Dr. Flemming initiated the planning processes and proposals for Ph.D. and enhanced master's degrees in English and master's degrees in art. She also served as professor of modern languages, was team leader of the Language Integration Program, and facilitator for the Critical Languages Self-Instruction Project.

From 1987 to 1990, Dr. Flemming was the associate dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Arizona . There she developed policy on shared appointments, formalized procedures for review of academic professionals, and drafted proposals for new positions. Dr. Flemming also initiated a mentoring program for junior faculty and implemented new progams for the retention of minority students. In Arizona she served as associate professor of women's studies and of oriental studies. At both the University of Maine and the University of Arizona, Dr. Flemming prepared and defended college budget proposals and established priorities and procedures for the allocation of departmental operating budgets, salary savings, and discretionary and indirect cost recovery funds.

Our new Athens resident says that, for her, it is an exciting time to be dean of the university's, largest college.

Not only is Ohio University a fine institution, with a strong reputation in the state and the nation, but, what is even more important, the university and the College of Arts and Sciences have entered a period of considerable change and turnover. Our president is beginning his third year, we have a new provost. and I am one of three new deans. This year we w, be searching for three more deans. In the College, a significant number of our older faculty members are retiring, and we are searching for new faculty to take their places.

In the midst of all this change and turnover, I want to be certain that we both preserve those things that have made us strong and look ahead to the needs of the next century. In our departments I want to support and enhance our historic mission of undergraduate teaching. In graduate education we need to respond carefully to the review of doctoral education undertaken last year, by the Board of Regents. We also need to begin looking at new missions for our master's degree programs. For both undergraduate and graduate degree programs, I want to make sure that we are hiring the very best new faculty and that we are drawing them from as diverse a pool as possible. Finally, in this office, I want to scrutinize our service to students and faculty and organize our staff to serve both groups as effectively as possible.

The new dean' s broad administrative background is complemented by diverse teaching experiences and areas of interest. Courses she has taught include "Oriental Humanities," "Indian Religions and Thought." "Hind-Urdu Language and Literature," and "Women and Religion." She Is the editor of Women's Work for Women: Missionaries and Social Change in Asia, published in 1989 by Westview Press, and author of Another Lonely Voice: The Urdu Short Stories of Saadat Hasan Manto, published in 1979 and available through University Press of America.

Dr. Flemming's most recent articles include "Out of the Zenana: New Translations of Ismat Chughtai's Work," Annual of Urdu Studies (1995), and "Between Two Worlds: Self-Identity and Self-Construction in Indian Women, 1870-1930," in Women as Subjects, published in 1994 by the University of Virginia Press. Her articles, some in Urdu, on Indian and Pakistani writers, Urdu language and literature, and women's education in India, have appeared in the Journal of South Asian Literature, Journal of Asian Studies, and the North Dakota Quarterly.

Leslie Flemming received her Ph.D. in Indian Languages and Literatures from the University of Wisconsin in 1973 and her M.A. in Indian Studies from the University of Wisconsin in 1968. Her B.A. in English was awarded from Carleton College in 1965. Dr. Flemming is married with three children and has traveled extensively in India. She and her husband are avid hikers and look forward to discovering the new hiking trails of this area.

Our new dean replaces Harold Molineu, professor of political science, who served as interim dean from 1994 to 1996 and as the College's associate dean for graduate affairs for eight years. Dr. Molineu is spending the fall 1996 quarter at Chubu University, located in Kasaugai, near Nagoya, in Japan. He will be at the University of Swansea in Wales for the winter and spring quarters. At both universities, which have exchange programs with Ohio University, he will be teaching courses in political science.