Replacing George S. Tate
Brigham Young University Academic Vice President John S. Tanner has announced the appointment of Daniel J. Fairbanks as the new dean of Undergraduate Education.
The appointment will be effective Oct. 1.
“Dan has broad intellectual interests and abilities which will make him uniquely qualified to oversee general and honors education,” said Tanner. “He has talents in art, literature and language as well as science.”
Fairbanks, a professor of plant and animal sciences, replaces George S. Tate, who will return to teaching and research in the Department of Humanities and Comparative Literature before leaving to direct a BYU Study Abroad program in London during winter semester.
“Dean Tate has made many contributions as a dean,” said Tanner. “Perhaps his most important legacy will be the revised General Education program. His explanation of the baccalaureate degree will help students better understand their university experiences.”
As dean of Undergraduate Education, Fairbanks will supervise and foster essential university-wide elements of the baccalaureate degree, including General Education, the Honors Program, University Writing and the First-Year Experience, including the Freshman Academy and New Student Orientation.
A member of the BYU faculty since 1988, Fairbanks is a former associate dean of General Education and Honors, now Undergraduate Education, and former director of the BYU Honors Program.
He is a well-respected geneticist and is currently the U.S. project leader of a collaborative study on the genetic improvement and conservation of quinoa, a highly nutritious and important food plant in Andean South America. As a Fulbright Fellow, he was a visiting professor at the Universidade Estadual de Londrina in Brazil.
Fairbanks has received many commendations from his students and fellow faculty members, including an Alcuin Award for General Education teaching, a BYU Young Scholar Award and a Teaching Excellence Award from William A. Brown Communications, and twice honored as Teacher of the Year in his department.
Writer: Cecelia Fielding
