Professor to replace retiring Director of Arts & Humanities

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Next fall, Media Arts professor Mike Geraci will begin training with Dean David DeMoss to replace DeMoss as the Director of the School of Arts and Humanities after he retires at the end of the 2020 school year.

Geraci said he wanted to become the new Director of the School of Arts and Humanities to gain more opportunities and to benefit students beyond just his field of Media Arts.  

“I will miss my 20 years here as a professor,” Geraci said. “But I believe there are more things that I can do by becoming the director.”

Some opportunities Geraci said he was interested in were being able to hire more faculty while still supporting current members.  

Geraci said one of his goals as a director is to make more proactive approaches to promoting the study of arts and Humanities. He hopes to make people more aware of the importance humanities, and the many studies it encompasses, can play in daily life.

“Arts and humanities is an essential part of being human.” Geraci said. “I want to make sure people do not feel as if it is not essential to learn.”

Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Sarah Phillips, said Geraci’s extensive experience working at Pacific University made him a suitable replacement as new director. In fact, Geraci gained some experience as an interim director when DeMoss went on sabbatical years ago.

Phillips also noted Geraci had a lot of administrative experiences, such as being the head of the new core that he helped pass.

Geraci believes that his best strength as a new director is that he is a Pacific University alumnus. Working with a lot of people at Pacific University already, makes him more familiar with the campus than if the replacement were to come from outside the university.

According to Phillips, when Geraci becomes the new Director of the School of Arts and Humanities, he will be one of three new directors in three of Pacific University’s schools including the new current director of the School of Social Sciences, Jaye Cee Whitehead, and next year’s new full-time Director of the School of Natural Sciences, Rebecca Concepcion.

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