hammekea@lopers.unk.edu
After 13 years of service, Dr. Charles Bicak, the senior vice chancellor of academic and student affairs, is retiring this spring. Three finalists are up for Bicak’s position: Laurie Couch, Kristen Majocah and Rai Kathuria.
The Association of Governing Boards Search is conducting the process. Roderick McDavis, the managing principal of the search, said that there was a robust and diverse pool of roughly 30 candidates applied for the position.
The chief academic officer will lead the academic programs at UNK.
Laurie Couch
Since 2016, Couch has been the associate provost for Undergraduate Education and Student Success at Morehead State University. Couch has spent the past 25 years instructing and administrating at Morehead State University.
In her current position, she helps with faculty development, curriculum and program review, instructional technology, academic policy, strategic planning, budgeting and student initiatives. She taught at the University of Tennessee and Fort Hays State University.
A reviewer of nine academic journals and various college textbooks, Couch received her bachelors degree in psychology from Mississippi State University and received her masters and doctorate in experimental psychology from the University of Tennessee.
Couch will have the first forums of the three candidates on March 28 in Copeland 142, with the student forum from 2:30-3 p.m. and community forum from 3:15-4:45 p.m.
Kristen Majocha
Majocha is the dean of the College of Education and Liberal Arts at California University of Pennsylvania. She recently became the dean of the College of Social Sciences and Human Services.
She served as an associate professor at Pittsburgh-Johnstown in the communication department before transitioning to academic affairs in her final two years with the college. The Navy veteran is fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language, and she is the editor of the Iowa Journal of Communication.
She received her bachelors in Communication from Slippery Rock University, while earning her masters and doctorate at Duquesne University.
Majocha will have the middle forums of the three candidates on March 31 in Copeland 142, with the student forum from 3-3:30 p.m. and a community forum from 3:45-5 p.m.
Rai Kathuria
Kathuria has been the assistant vice president for University Academic Affairs at Indiana University since 2017. He is the director of the office of Collaborative Academic Programs for IU Online and a liaison to the Higher Learning Commission for online programs. Kathuria oversees the creation, implementation and administration of online and hybrid degrees.
The 2020 winner of the Indiana University Bicentennial Medal received his bachelors degree in biochemistry from the University of Delhi in New Delhi, India, his masters in biochemistry from Hamdard University in New Delhi and his doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Delhi. He was also a 2016 member of Harvard University’s Management Development Program.
Kathuria will have the last forums of the three candidates on April 4 in Copeland 142 with the student forum from 3-3:30 p.m. and the community forum from 3:45-5 p.m.
