Elizabeth A. (Libby) Walker has been appointed the new interim dean of the Honors College at Washington State University, WSU Provost and Executive Vice President Robert C. Bates announced. A national search will be conducted for a new dean during the coming year.
Walker has been an administrator in the college since 1996 when she was named assistant director, becoming associate dean in 2004. She succeeds Mary F. Wack, just appointed as the university’s vice provost of undergraduate education. Wack had been dean of the Honors College since 2000, and simultaneously served as interim director of the Office of Undergraduate Education since 2005.
“Libby Walker is passionate about the students and programs of the Honors College, and I am confident that under her leadership, the college will continue to offer exceptional opportunities to scores of our high-achieving undergraduate scholars,” said Bates.
“Her experience with the college and her plans to infuse it with more innovative ideas will be instrumental in its future success, and to the lifelong learning and global impact of the outstanding graduates that it produces.”
“I am honored by the confidence placed in me to lead the WSU Honors College and eager to assume this responsibility,” Walker said. “I know I can depend on our world-class faculty and our remarkable students to keep the college on track as we strive for new levels of excellence and continue to provide an outstanding honors education. I’m excited about our future.”
Wack also touted Walker’s high qualifications for the position. “Because of the extra responsibilities she has assumed in the past two years, Libby has solid grounding in every aspect of administering the Honors College,” Wack said. “She has also led recent efforts to bring foreign language competency to the forefront in the college, and is invested in updating the program’s entire curriculum.”
Walker, an Iowa native, is a WSU alumna, having earned her Ph.D. in political science and public policy from the College of Liberal Arts. Her master’s degree on the same topics is from the State University of New York at Buffalo, and her bachelor’s degree in American history is from the University of Colorado. She was a professor of political science at WSU and the University of Idaho, and also taught in the Women’s Studies Program at WSU. She was a visiting professor at the University of Toulouse in France.
She has participated in numerous conferences and institutes, frequently taking Honors College students to present their research findings.
Walker was the 2003 WSU delegate to the prestigious Bryn Mawr Summer Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration. She received the 2005 Outstanding Faculty Service Award from WSU Writing Programs, and was co-principal investigator for a $130,000 National Science Foundation grant, “Technology-based Instructional Modules for Mathematics in the Social Sciences.” This year, she coordinated efforts to send five WSU undergraduates to the District of Columbia as summer program participants with The Washington Center Internships and Academic Seminars.
