By Ken Camp
David Garland will step down as dean of Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary when he assumes the post of interim provost of the university June 1.
In February, when Furman University named Baylor Provost Elizabeth Davis as its 12th president, Baylor University President Ken Starr appointed Garland as interim provost.
Garland has served on the Truett faculty since 1997, was appointed the seminary’s associate dean for academic affairs in 2001, and has been dean since 2007. He served Baylor as interim president from August 2008 to May 2010.
“I told the president and others that I did not think it was good for the seminary to have a dean who keeps leaving and coming back, since I had served four years ago as the interim president for two years,” Garland said in a message emailed to Truett students and alumni.
Associate Dean Dennis Tucker becomes Truett’s interim dean. Andy Arterbury will serve as interim associate dean for the fall semester, and Terry York will become interim associate dean in the spring semester “depending on how long the search for dean lasts,” Garland said.
Larry Lyon, vice provost and dean of Baylor’s graduate school, will chair the committee that conducts a national search for Truett’s new dean, in keeping with university policy.
“When my stint as interim provost is over, I will be returning to Truett as a professor of Christian Scriptures,” Garland said.