After former dean Keith Walters was arrested for the involvement of a child sex sting operation, Dr. James LaPlant took charge as the interim dean of the College of Science and Mathematics. As the new semester draws closer, Dr. LaPlant will resume his position as dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Dr. Theresa Grove will now serve as the new interim dean.

Dr. Grove started at VSU as a faculty member in the biology department in 2006 after earning a master’s degree in Zoology and a Ph.D. in marine biology at the University of Maine. After hearing about the College of Art and Science splitting in 2018, Dr. Grove then applied and became the associate dean of the College of Science and Mathematics.

Now that Dr. Grove has taken the position as interim dean, Dr. Sudip Chakraborty, a professor of computer science, will now take on as associate dean. Dr. Chakraborty started his new position at the beginning of July.

According to Dr. Grove, VSU has not started the search process for finding a permanent dean just yet due to the COVID-19 pandemic but there are plans to continue the search in the upcoming year.  However, this may change depending on the increasing impact of the pandemic.

“Moving forward there will be new challenges that we must overcome, and it will be interesting to see how the search process has to be adjusted in response to COVID-19,” she said. “But I am confident that we will be successful at finding the next leader.”

One of the things to be expected for the upcoming semester from the College of Science and Mathematics is an expansion of the peer mentoring program known as College of Science and Mathematics (CoSM) Guide which is funded by a grant from University System of Georgia.

The purpose of the CoSM Guide is to help the incoming students have a smooth and successful transition into VSU.

“We recognize that university life is a lot different from high school,” Dr. Grove said. “And we hope that this program will help incoming students build connections with other students in the College of Science & Mathematics, increase the sense of community within our College, and provide information to new students about the resources and opportunities available to them at VSU.”

The College of Science and Mathematics is currently hiring peer mentors. The jobs ads can be found on BlazerLink.

Written By Jasmine Small, staff writer. Photos courtesy of VSU Website.