By UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
J. David Macey, an accomplished higher education leader and distinguished scholar of English Literature, will be the next dean of the Fort Hays State University College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS).
The college Macey will lead recently began working through a comprehensive reorganization focused on enhancing operational efficiencies, positioning the college to grow, leveraging new academic program opportunities, and creating a collaborative and engaging organizational culture that articulates the value of a liberal arts education.
Provost Dr. Jill Arensdorf welcomed the selection of Macey.
“We are so pleased Dr. Macey accepted our offer to serve as dean,” Arensdorf said. “The search committee and I see him as a special kind of leader, both thoughtful and collaborative. He is the right professional to lead CAHSS through a period of transformation,” said Arensdorf.
Macey currently serves as the interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Central Oklahoma. Macey chaired the Department of English at UCO from 2007 until 2015 and was the interim chairperson for the department in 2020 and 2021. Macey served from 2016 until 2019 as an assistant vice president in the university’s Office of Academic Affairs. In this role, he was responsible for providing leadership for a range of inclusion, diversity, and globalization initiatives.
An experienced academic leader with a distinguished record of service in a variety of roles, Macey looks forward to the challenge of leading CAHSS during an exciting period of change and renewal.
“I am deeply committed to quality, accessibility, and innovation in public higher education,” Macey said. “I have long admired the outstanding work of students, faculty, and staff at Fort Hays State University, and I am both honored and excited to join the Tiger Nation!“
Macey’s principal areas of research and teaching are Old English language and literature, Restoration and eighteenth-century British literature, literary and critical theory, and the history of the English language. He has chaired UCO’s Committee on Diversity and served for over two decades as the faculty adviser to the Student Alliance for Equality (SAFE), UCO’s 2SLGBTQIA+ student organization.
Macey received his B.A. from Yale University, an A.M. at Brown University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University. At UCO, he received the Modeling the Way Award, the Neely Excellence in Teaching Award, the Division of Student Affairs’ Faculty Adviser of the Year Award, the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice’s Oklahoma City Humanitarian Award, and the Cimarron Alliance’s Torch Award.
Dr. Macey will begin his service as Dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences later this summer.