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University of Iowa pauses dean search after finalist opts for ‘another opportunity’
UI has two dean searches on hold: the Graduate College and College of Law
May. 5, 2025 1:15 pm, Updated: May. 6, 2025 10:52 am
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IOWA CITY — For the second time in four months, the University of Iowa has paused a search for a college dean — with its Graduate College this month joining its College of Law in the limbo status of interim leadership.
The university in February launched an internal search for a new Graduate College dean and associate provost for graduate and professional education after Amanda Haertling Thein — four years into the job — was appointed dean of the University of Colorado-Boulder School of Education, starting July 1.
An 11-member search committee last month announced two internal finalists to replace her:
- Jon C.D. Houtman is professor and vice chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in the Carver College of Medicine and associate director for career enhancement at the UI Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center. He joined the UI community in 2005, focusing his research on the immune system’s role in disease pathology.
- Jennifer Blackhurst is a business analytics professor, associate dean for graduate and professional programs, and chair in the Tippie College of Business. She joined the UI campus in 2014, focusing her research on supply chain risk and disruption management, design and coordination, and assessment and selection.
Both met with UI faculty, staff, students, and campus leadership and participated in open forums with the broader community in April.
“After interviews with campus stakeholders, a candidate was offered the position but elected to pursue another opportunity,” according to a UI announcement of the search pause.
“While we’re disappointed the finalist chose not to move forward, we respect their decision and remain focused on identifying the next leader for the Graduate College,” Executive Vice President and Provost Kevin Kregel said in a statement.
In pausing the search for its next graduate and professional education head, the university did not announce a timeline for when it might restart the process. Given Thein begins her new job July 1, UI officials said they’ll announce an interim dean to serve until they find a successor.
Law dean search
The search stoppage comes just over four months after the university on Dec. 19 announced it was pausing its College of Law dean search, having decided none of the three finalists it invited to campus “was the right fit for the position.”
“We are grateful for the three candidates who visited our campus and engaged with our university,” Kregel said at the time. “While each made a strong case, we felt that we needed to step back and take some additional time to make sure we find the right leader for Iowa Law.”
A new College of Law dean would replace Kevin Washburn, who after coming in as UI dean in 2018 announced last summer plans to step down and “return to the classroom and his research” on the UI faculty.
During his six years as dean, Washburn wore many hats on and off the UI campus. He was appointed captain of the U.S. Department of the Interior Agency Review Team for the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris transition in Washington from August 2020 to January 2021 — requiring him to take a leave of absence from the university.
Later that year in October 2021, Washburn — a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma who from 2008 to 2011 served as chief judge of the Court of Appeals for the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Indians in Michigan and from 2012 to 2016 as assistant secretary for Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior — was chosen by federal judges to “create trusts and direct the distribution of hundreds of millions of dollars of settlement funds arising from opioid litigation against Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and several other defendants.”
As trustee over the settlement trusts, Washburn was charged with distributing funds to tribal governments “for prevention and abatement of opioid problems in tribal communities nationwide.”
UI officials told The Gazette that communication about Washburn’s service with the opioid settlement and its impact on his work as dean was confidential.
“Dean Washburn’s work with the opioid litigation is performed in a personal capacity, outside of his responsibilities to the university,” a UI records custodian said.
The three finalists considered to replace Washburn as Iowa Law dean included an interim University of Toledo College of Law dean; a law professor from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, with experience as an associate dean; and the dean of the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Law.
UI officials confirmed the law dean search remains paused.
The university hasn’t announced a new timeline for a resumed search — with UI law professor and Civil Litigation chair Todd Pettys serving as interim.
Pettys and Thein last summer led a search committee as co-chairs — and still are listed in that capacity on the search website. When the university resumes its search, it will form a new committee, UI officials said.
Of the university’s 12 college deans, eight have been appointed since 2020 or have interim leadership presently. The longest-serving UI dean is College of Education Dean Daniel Clay, appointed in 2016.
Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.
Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com
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