SLIS dean latest to resign

IU School of Library and Information Sciences Dean Blaise Cronin announced in a statement Tuesday that he will resign after this semester to take a year-long sabbatical and return as a faculty member.\nDuring Cronin's 12 years as dean, he remade the SLIS into one of the nation's premier information science departments. Over the past few years the SLIS has set new records for enrollment. \n"I was saddened when I heard the news," said Javed Mostafa, associate professor of SLIS. "I think he has been an extremely hard-working dean and has done a significant amount of work for the school. He has placed us on the map as far as recognition."\nBloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm will appoint an interim dean until a permanent replacement is found.\nCronin is the author and editor of over 300 research articles in the areas of scholarly communication, citation analysis, scientific collaboration and cybermetrics. \nThe resignation of Cronin is the fourth administrative shakeup for IU in the last 12 months. IU is currently seeking a new president, athletic director and dean of the law school. \nDuring Cronin's reign, the SLIS began offering new master's and Ph.D. degrees and a number of modern joint/dual degree programs. \nJust this year, Cronin published the book "Pulp Friction."\nDebora Shaw, associate dean of SLIS said she is pleased Cronin will eventually return to IU.\n"Dean Cronin is an excellent and well-recognized scholar, and I'm pleased that he's going to stay on as a faculty member and be contributing to the field in that way."\nCronin is the esteemed editor of the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology. \nHe has traveled as a consultant to more than 30 countries, working for such agencies as the World Bank, UNESCO, European Commission, British Council, Her Majesty's Treasury and Hewlett-Packard.\nCronin is the Rudy Professor of Information Science as well as visiting professor of Information Science at the Manchester Metropolitan University, England and also visiting professor in the School of Computing at Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland. \nFrom 1985-1991 he held the Chair of Information Science at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, where he was head of the Department of Information Science in the Strathclyde Business School.\nCronin could not be reached for comment Tuesday.