Sisterhood and Academics: First Group of Leadership Scholars Set to Graduate

Dear Members of the DU Community,

Daniel McIntosh, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHSS), has announced that he will be stepping down from his role as dean effective July 1, 2021, following—by that time—seven transformational years as dean. 

Danny wanted to make his decision public as soon as possible to allow for discussion and planning with faculty and staff, a timely search for new leadership, and a seamless, strategic transition plan. 

During his tenure, Danny has led the college with a strong commitment to our students and community and a collaborative leadership approach with faculty and staff colleagues in the college and across the University. While dean, he played an integral role in developing and implementing the University’s strategic plan, serving on the Transformative Directions Advisory group and the DU IMPACT 2025 steering committee. He led the college in the development of its Keystone Strategic Plan, working with faculty, staff, students and alumni to create a unified College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.

His commitment to our students is most evident in the college’s development of Keystone Experiences, which are multi-quarter, experiential, faculty-guided, integrative learning experiences in and across majors. This has included new funded summer internships for CAHSS students and innovative programs in multiple majors. Over the last six years, the college has raised nearly $40 million to support student work, internships and training opportunities, as well as faculty innovation, research and creative work. 

Most notably, under Danny’s leadership, the college received multiple national grants and philanthropic support for the John Madden Center for Innovation in the Liberal and Creative Arts and its programs, including numerous faculty-led initiatives such as:

• Casa de Paz Learning Community, which combines immigration-related, service-learning courses with student engagement in the work of local nonprofit Casa de Paz;
• Clinic for Open-Source Arts, which explores and supports efforts to make free and open-source tools that encourage the creative use of digital technology in diverse populations; and 
• DU Prison Arts Initiative, which collaborates with the Colorado Department of Corrections to provide high-quality arts programs to and with incarcerated people across the state.

Danny has also been a steadfast advocate for his faculty and staff, creating an intentional community dedicated to integrity and inclusivity. In partnership with the staff, associate dean, and chairs and directors of the college, he worked to improve hiring practices, staff and faculty professional development and promotion processes, and faculty pay equity. These efforts led to an increase from 12 percent to 26 percent in assistant professors of color, an increase from 26 percent to 40 percent in female full professors, and adjustments in disparate pay levels among faculty across the college. The college also launched a new minor in critical race and ethnic studies and elevated the voices of its faculty and staff through the formation of the CAHSS Inclusive Excellence Committee and the CAHSS Staff Committee, the newly created position of director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and revisions to departmental and college governance.

“The faculty, staff, students and alumni of CAHSS are extraordinary. Our faculty is a diverse group of world-class scholars and artists who collaborate to expand our understanding of people and who use their knowledge to advance the public good,” said Danny. “The staff and faculty of CAHSS care deeply about each other and our communities. They are creative and dedicated, consistently leading the way in supporting the mission of the University and college. It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with them these last six years, and I look forward to all we can accomplish together in the year to come.”

Danny will continue to lead the college through the 2020-2021 academic year. At the end of this academic year, he plans to rejoin the faculty in the Department of Psychology where he’ll return to teaching and continue his research on emotions and the psychology of religion. 

Over the coming weeks, the University will identify a search committee and begin the process of finding the University’s next dean of the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences.

Please join us in congratulating and celebrating Dean McIntosh’s outstanding leadership of CAHSS. His contributions have truly advanced the work of our faculty, staff and students and put the University in a position to attract a high-caliber leader to carry the college forward.  

Sincerely,

Mary Clark
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor