James Norris, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has agreed to a one-year extension to his term as dean.

Norris’ fourth term as dean was supposed to end at the close of the 1993-94 school year, but Norris said he received an official request to extend his term as dean from NIU Provost J. Carroll Moody sometime in September.

“I had a letter offering me to extend my commitment and my faculty and staff recommended that I stay, (so) I have agreed to do it,” Norris said.

LA&S officials pushed for an extension of Norris’ term for several reasons.

The university is currently undergoing some turmoil because of the searches for a permanent provost, College of Business dean and director of continuing education. A similar search at the university’s largest college would further compound this turmoil.

Consequently, LA&S officials did not want to convey a lack of stability at the university, especially with a North Central Accrediting Association review for NIU just around the corner.

Another reason for the extension was to give the new provost the chance to be personally involved in the search and selection of the new LA&S dean.

The move was generally well-received by LA&S department heads, many of whom said there were no problems with it.

Norris said he planned to continue his career in academia after stepping down as dean.

“I will not be retiring,” Norris said. “I will go back to teaching and writing history.”

The subject of an extension first arose over the summer in a letter written by LA&S brass to Moody and members of the LA&S senate.

The LA&S senate, which is composed of all the college’s department heads, voted on June 11 to endorse the one-year extension of Norris’ term.

At the time Moody refused to confirm or deny whether the extension was under consideration, calling it a personnel matter not open for public discussion.

Originally, Norris came from the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he served as chair of the history department. He came to NIU in 1979 and has been dean of LA&S ever since, with the exception of a year as acting vice president and provost during the 1984-85 academic year.

The university is currently undergoing some turmoil because of other searches. A similar search at the university’s largest college would further compound this turmoil.