Cornerstone: the newsletter of the College of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 1, No. 1, Fall 1997

              The  Newsletter of the  College of Arts and  Sciences
Volume 6, Number 1  ■ Fall  1997
From the Dean
s press time approaches, we
are awaiting the arrival of the
new dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences, Kumble R.
Subbaswamy. He will be on board by the
time you receive this newsletter. Let me
introduce him to you.
Born and raised in southern India,
Kumble Subbaswamy came to this country in
1971 to attend Indiana University. After receiving his Ph.D. in physics from that institution, and following a post-doctoral research
stint at the University of California, Irvine, he
joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky in 1978 and has been there since.
During his time there, he served for two
years as associate dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences and for four years as chair of
the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
A Fellow of the American Physical Society,
Subbaswamy's research has been in the
area of condensed matter, i.e., the behavior
of solids and liquids from an atomic point
of view.
In his introductory letter to faculty of
our College of Arts and Sciences,
Subbaswamy spoke of viewing a university
as "first and foremost, a place for the pursuit
of knowledge by students and scholars alike,
where the highest possible rules for engagement must prevail—open and free discourse
of ideas, regardless of where they come from
and where they may lead; respect for and
celebration of diversity of people, cultures,
and opinions." When someone comes in
from "the outside," the mark of what they
will have to offer comes as much from the
questions they pose as from the statements
they make. As one to whom many of these
have been directed, I can attest that your
new dean definitely
knows the right questions to ask. He is
both seasoned and
youthfully energetic,
and the College will
be in excellent hands
under his leadership.
Associate Dean
Charly Mallery and
Assistant Dean Rita
Deutsch will continue
in the roles they have
held for several years.
To this team, Dean
Subbaswamy has
added as associate
dean Daniel L. Pals,
professor of religious
studies. Dr. Pals received his Ph.D. in
1975 from the University of Chicago. Author
of Seven Theories of Religion (Oxford, 1996),
he joined the University of Miami faculty in
1980 and has served also as department
chair since 1983.
By way of reflecting on my year as
interim dean, I have found this role to in-
Dean Kumble R. Subbaswamy
volve an enormous variety of tasks, none
more interesting than that of interviewing
individuals who have been brought to
campus to be considered for one of our
faculty openings. As the interviewing season
progressed, I developed a set speech in
response to the basic
questions most candidates posed: What's
distinctive about the
University of Miami?
What are its drawbacks
and its prospects for
the future? Fd like to
share the brief version
of my response to these
questions:
There are two facts
that, especially when
juxtaposed with each
other, tell volumes about
s  this institution. The first
|  is that the University is,
i  in effect, about 50 years
I   old; although it was
founded in 1926, the
Depression and war
slowed its development as a full-fledged
university until the late 1940s. The second is
that this University is about 37th highest in
federal funding among U.S. universities,
most of which are far older. (Editor's note:
The figure on page 2 shows the College's
Continued on page 2