Steve Goddard has been appointed to the position of interim dean in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Arts and Sciences. The announcement was made May 15 by Ellen Weissinger, senior vice chancellor for Academic Affairs. Goddard will formally accept the appointment on July 1.

Before coming to UNL, he worked in the computer industry for 13 years, including nine as president of his own company. Goddard received a bachelor of arts degree in computer science and mathematics from the University of Minnesota in 1985 and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in computer science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Goddard became a member of UNL’s faculty in 1998 and has served as chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering since August 2008.

He has served on the ADVANCE-Nebraska Faculty Committee, the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Women, the UNL Faculty Senate’s Intercollegiate Athletics Committee and has led a campuswide task force to study the potential role and impact of massive online open courses (MOOCs) at UNL.

Weissinger said a national search for a permanent dean would begin immediately. Susan Poser, dean of the College of Law, will chair the search committee, to be formed by early July. Goddard has chosen not to be a candidate for the permanent position.