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Dr. Edwin Battistella appointed as interim provost for Southern Oregon University
04/09/2007
(Ashland, Ore.) – Southern Oregon University President Mary Cullinan announced earlier today the appointment of Dr. Edwin Battistella as interim provost for the University. Dr. Battistella will replace Dr. Earl Potter, Executive Vice President and Provost for Southern Oregon University, who accepted the position of President at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. Dr. Battistella's position begins on July 1, 2007.
Of the appointment, Dr. Battistella said, “SOU is a great institution and I am looking forward to working with everyone in what promises to be an interesting and busy year."
Former Dean of the School of Arts & Letters at SOU, Dr. Battistella is a professor of English and Writing at the University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Slavic Languages from Rutgers University and master’s and doctoral degrees in linguistics from City University in New York. Battistella taught at the University of Alabama in Birmingham from 1982-1993 and was head of the Humanities Division at Wayne State College from 1993-2000. He has also held visiting positions at the IBM Research Center in Yorktown Heights and the Linguistic Society of America Summer Institute.
Battistella is the author of three books: Bad Language, The Logic of Markedness, and Markedness: The Evaluative Superstructure of Language. He is the editor of Blackwell Publishers’ Linguistic Abstracts and coeditor of Language and Linguistics Compass and has served as chair of the Linguistic Society of America.
Dr. Battistella brings experience, knowledge, and strong dedication and commitment to the position. President Mary Cullinan stated, “I am grateful to Dr. Battistella for his willingness to serve during this transition. I know the campus community will join me in supporting his work during the coming year.”
Later this spring, President Cullinan will form a search committee for the permanent Provost position; the University will advertise for the position in early fall 2007.
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