Campus hires new dean

Christopher Comer, a scientist whose research may lead to brain-operated prosthetic devices and biologically based robots, will be the next dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UM.

Comer is a professor of biological sciences, neuroscience and bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was one of four dean candidates brought to Missoula for interviews in April. He will start his new duties at UM in January 2009.

In his new role, Comer will oversee 23 departments and programs, 380 faculty members, 60 staff members and nearly 7,000 students.

He will replace Gerald Fetz, who has served as UM’s College of Arts and Sciences dean since July 2003. Fetz will complete his tenure as dean June 30 but will continue working at UM on a post-retirement contract. CAS employees will fulfill the dean’s duties until Comer arrives early next year.

“We are delighted to attract Dr. Comer as the next dean of the College of Arts and Sciences,” UM Provost Royce Engstrom said. “He has been an exceptional faculty member and is a tremendous scholar, so he will be able to lead by example.”

From 2001 to 2007, Comer served as assistant dean, senior associate dean and dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. He also directed UIC’s Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience.

Comer studies sensorimotor integration — how sensory information in the brain is translated into commands for appropriate behavioral responses. He uses insects and naturally blind rodents called mole-rats in his research.

He has taught a variety of subjects in the life sciences, principally in the areas of physiology, animal behavior and neuroscience. During the summers he leads a program in Ireland that examines human cognition from the joint perspectives of the humanities — such as literature and visual arts — and neuroscience.