Professor Seán Hand appointed as Dean of the Warwick in California Graduate School

COVENTRY, 21-Jul-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — Today, Monday 18^th July 2016, the University of Warwick announced the very first senior academic appointment to its “Warwick in California” partnership in Placer County California. Professor Seán Hand has been appointed as Dean of the Warwick in California Graduate School and he will move to California in due course to take up that role.

The University of Warwick’s Vice Chancellor and President Professor Stuart Croft said:

“I am delighted to be able to reveal that is to be the first Senior Academic appointment in our Warwick in California partnership between the University of Warwick and the University Development Foundation which is developing teaching and research, and a physical presence for Warwick, in Placer County, California. Seán will be our pioneer academic leader in a phased project building towards a campus with some 6000 students by around 2031.”

Subject to gaining approval from the regulatory bodies in the US and California, Warwick in California aims to begin teaching postgraduate students at our new Graduate School in Roseville in 2018. That will be the first phase of the eventual establishment of a comprehensive “University of Warwick in California” located near Sacramento, in Placer County.

Seán is the founding Head of Warwick’s School of Modern Languages and Cultures, having previously also served as the Head of the University’s Department of French Studies.

Professor Croft also said:

“Professor Seán Hand is a distinguished researcher and academic leader, and a strong and convinced internationalist. He is the ideal person to take forward the Graduate School at this prestigious and exciting development and ensure that it will deliver teaching and ultimately research of the highest quality”

On hearing of his appointment, Professor Seán Hand said:

“I am delighted and honoured to be entrusted with this role. Warwick has received an incredible degree of welcome and support from so many partners and supporters in California. I look forward to working closely with them, and the many Warwick colleagues who want to be involved, to establish the Graduate School as the first academic step to a full-spectrum University of Warwick campus in California. This is a game-changing initiative for our sector as well as an exciting transformation of Warwick. I shall soon begin work as a pioneer of Warwick’s academic activity in California.”

Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, President and CEO of the University Development Foundation in California, said:

“We are thrilled at the appointment of Professor Sean Hand as the first Dean of the Warwick in California Graduate School. This appointment demonstrates the deep commitment of the entire University of Warwick community to this ground-breaking effort in Placer County. We look forward to working closely with Professor Hand as he establishes a world-class Graduate School right here in our community.”

For further information please contact:

Peter Dunn, Director of Press and Policy,
University of Warwick, Tel UK: 024 76523708 office 07767 655860 mobile
Tel Overseas: +44 (0)24 76523708 office +44 (0)7767 655860 mobile/cell
Email: p.j.dunn@warwick.ac.uk

SOURCE: University of Warwick

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Professor Seán Hand appointed as Dean of the Warwick in California Graduate School