Interim Provost Michael Hunter Schwartz has announced that Thomas Naehr will step down from his role as dean of the Graduate School Dec. 2 and return to his tenured-faculty position beginning spring semester.

Naehr joined Pacific in 2017. He has a strong background in geology, including serving as a tenured faculty member of the Geology and Environmental Science program and Harte Research Associate at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi from 2006–2017. He earned his PhD in Marine Geology in 1996 from the IFM-GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geoscience, Kiel, Germany.

Interim Provost Schwartz expressed his appreciation for Naehr’s efforts to quickly reinvigorate the Graduate School and to attract and retain traditional and non-traditional learners. Under Naehr’s leadership, Pacific has expanded support for graduate students and graduate program offerings across the three campuses, in alignment with the university’s strategic plan. He has helped strengthen enrollment in several graduate programs including most recently more than doubling the number of students in the Master of Science in Data Science program.

To provide continued leadership for the Graduate School, the provost has appointed Cyd Jenefsky, vice provost for strategy and educational effectiveness, to serve as interim dean upon Naehr’s return to faculty.