After the loss of its dean, the University Honors College administration has taken another… After the loss of its dean, the University Honors College administration has taken another step forward.

Pitt named economics professor Steve Husted as interim dean of the Honors College today. He will take over on August 1.

The formal search for the dean of the Honors College will begin after the replacement for out-going provost James V. Maher has taken office. The new provost will be involved in the process.

Maher intends to retire at the beginning of the fall semester or as soon as his replacement is in place.

Chairman of the Provost Search Committee Randy Juhl said that Pitt might name a new provost before July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.

Husted started teaching at Pitt in 1980 in the School of Arts and Sciences and served as associate dean for graduate studies and research, from 1999 to 2005.

He earned his Ph.D. in economics from Michigan State University in 1980 and has taught international economics since that time. Husted is widely published in more than 50 books, working papers and scholarly articles and has written on international and Asian economics.

In addition to developing and teaching the Introduction to Macroeconomics program for the Honors College, Husted served on the advisory board, supervising students in the Bachelor of Philosophy program.

He has served on the University Council on Graduate Study, and in 2004 he advocated recruiting more highly qualified students to Pitt.

Former dean Glenn Alexander Stewart died April 7 in UPMC Presbyterian Hospital.

Stewart helped found the honors program, which became the University Honors College in 1986, in the late 1970s and held the post of dean until his death.

Husted, as interim dean, is the second to hold that post in the history of the University.