Knotts named interim arts, sciences dean

Gibbs Knotts, head of the Department of Political Science and Public Affairs at Western Carolina University, has been named interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The appointment is effective June 6, said Linda Seestedt-Stanford, WCU interim provost, who announced the decision Thursday, May 26.

Knotts is filling a leadership role formerly held by Wendy Z. Ford, who will be taking a faculty position in the Department of Communication.

“Gibbs Knotts is a highly respected member of our university community,” Seestedt-Stanford said. “He possesses a strong institutional perspective and will be an outstanding advocate for the College of Arts and Sciences.”

Gibbs Knotts

Head of the Department of Political Science and Public Affairs since January 2008, Knotts formerly served as associate dean of WCU’s Graduate School and Research from July 2005 to December 2007 and as director of the Master of Public Affairs Program from January 2003 to June 2005. He also is the university’s faculty athletics representative, serving as the liaison between the faculty and the Department of Athletics.

Knotts earned his doctorate in political science at Emory University in 2000 and his master’s degree, also in political science, from Emory in 1997. He is a 1993 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science.

Knotts has been recognized for teaching excellence, receiving the 2004 Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award and the 2010 University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. His research on political participation, public administration and Southern politics has appeared in a range of scholarly journals and has been profiled in media outlets including The Washington Post, the National Journal and The News & Observer of Raleigh.

Co-editor of “The New Politics of North Carolina” with WCU political science colleague Christopher Cooper, Knotts is frequently sought by the news media for his expertise on political matters.

As Western Carolina’s largest undergraduate college, the College of Arts and Sciences includes more than 180 full-time faculty members who serve more than 1,600 undergraduate student majors and master’s degree-seeking students in the humanities, sciences and social sciences. Eleven departments comprise the college – anthropology and sociology, English, history, modern foreign languages, philosophy and religion, communication, political science, biology, chemistry and physics, geosciences and natural resources, and mathematics and computer science.