KEARNEY – Following a national search, Ryan Teten has been selected as the inaugural dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
A Nebraska native, Teten is associate dean of the University College and Anthony Moroux/BORSF Endowed Professor of Political Science at the University of Louisiana Lafayette. Pending approval by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents at its March 29 meeting, Teten will begin at UNK this summer.
The announcement was made today by UNK Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Charlie Bicak.
“My family and I are thrilled to join the University of Nebraska at Kearney family,” Teten said. “It is an exciting time for the University and especially for the College of Arts and Sciences. I can’t wait to serve the incredible faculty and staff, and to do whatever I can to help make UNK the best experience possible for the talented and passionate student body.”
Teten was Political Science Department Chair from 2014 to 2016 and associate dean for the College of Liberal Arts from 2010 to 2012, all at Louisiana-Lafayette. Teten has proposed, designed and taught numerous in-class and online courses and internships. He also has extensive student-advising experience, mentoring nearly 100 students face-to-face each semester. He helped create an online completer program for adult learners and designed an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree that combines classes between colleges and works with private-public partnerships to provide businesses with students who have had the training they need.
He has served on more than 50 collegiate committees and has administrative experience in leadership and faculty development, university accreditation, employee evaluations, budgetary management, strategic planning, vision and mission statement establishment and implementation, community outreach, and student mentoring and recruitment.
Teten was also selected as a founding member of the University of Louisiana System Management and Leadership Institute in 2017.
Teten frequently served the university and community through hundreds of newspaper, radio and television interviews, and has published numerous articles and books focusing on political communication and policy-making. His scholarly activity and teaching is in campaigns and elections, the presidency, political documentaries, Sept. 11, volatile political issues and film, and other contemporary and popular culture research and writing on American politics.
Like his parents, Teten was born in Nebraska and still helps manage his 5,000-acre family farm near Broken Bow. He graduated from Clemson University in 1999 with a double major of political science and English. He then attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he earned his doctorate in 2004 in the field of political science, with a specialization in American politics and political institutions.
Peter Longo, UNK professor of Political Science, has served since July 2016 as interim dean of the College of Natural and Social Sciences, which became the College of Arts and Sciences in August 2018.
