Ohio University will conduct a national search for a new Ohio University Southern Campus dean, now that Dr.

Thursday, March 23, 2000

Ohio University will conduct a national search for a new Ohio University Southern Campus dean, now that Dr. Bill Dingus has announced his retirement.

"He will still be dean for the remainder of the academic year, then we will see how the search goes," said Steve Flaherty, associate vice president of OU’s Office of Regional Higher Education in Athens.

"It was his decision to retire and we are sorry to lose him," Flaherty said, adding that what happens next also depends on Dingus’s plans.

"We have the option to name an interim dean or Bill might stay a little longer," he said.

Meanwhile, the search process will begin, Flaherty said.

Ohio University also might initiate a job description review of the campus dean’s position, said Nellie Mitchell, human resources compensation analyst in Athens.

Many times, a position is not posted immediately when someone steps down, Mrs. Mitchell said.

"The review is to determine if the responsibilities in the job description are still appropriate or if something new needs to be considered," she said.

Office of Regional Higher Education will initiate paperwork and decide how to handle filling the vacancy and then human resources will become involved, Mrs. Mitchell said.

"There are many directions this can go in," she said.

Dr. Dingus would not discuss his retirement plans but called his 25-year OUSC career a wonderful opportunity.

"The success achieved at the campus and the community came from a philosophy of united family effort," he said.

Dr. Dingus was named OUSC’s first dean after it established its own campus, Flaherty said.

OUSC first started classes at Ironton High School in 1956.

In 1985, the Collins Center was constructed, followed in the early 1990s by the campus’s classroom building, Flaherty said.

Enrollment has grown exponentially over the years, he said.

Early on, the campus was home to only a few hundred students.

Now, full-time credit student enrollment at OUSC numbers in the mid-2,000 range, Flaherty said.

That is more full-time students than the campus has seen in the past and does not include non-credit students or other clients, he added.

Flaherty called Dr. Dingus’s retirement a loss for the university and community.

"He’s certainly earned retirement," he said. "There have been a lot of improvements, a lot of economic development work and tremendous contributions to the university."