Recap: When Academic Leadership has a Seat at the Table

Beyond research: the wisdom of Dean Alan Dorsey and his impact on our team.

In 2012, I met Alan Dorsey during his interviews to become Dean of UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. Our earliest conversations, not surprisingly, veered toward high performance computing—Alan’s work as a physicist naturally intersected with the technical infrastructure we were trying to build. What I didn’t realize then was just how central Alan’s voice would become to our efforts to support faculty research and advance research computing strategy across the university.

When Alan stepped down from his role as Dean in 2023, I asked if he’d consider a hybrid appointment: 20 hours a week helping lead our research infrastructure strategy, alongside his ongoing faculty work. He said yes—and for the last two years, he’s been a core member of our IT leadership team.

Alan didn’t just supervise our HPC group. He joined our weekly leadership meetings, where we “sweat the details” together—a lesson I learned years ago from a mentor. And Alan never once signaled that those meetings were beneath his time. Instead, he helped shape them. On every policy question, every project collaboration, every issue, Alan brought the indispensable perspective of faculty and academic leadership. His voice made our work better—full stop.

Now, as Alan returns full-time to the faculty as a Simons Foundation grantee, we lose more than a colleague. We lose a translator—someone who could bridge the language of IT strategy with the lived experience of faculty. We’ll miss his regular presence. But we’ll also miss the wisdom that comes from years in the academy, voiced clearly and without pretense.

Later this summer, we’ll search for a faculty researcher to step into the role Alan shaped. But what he proved is bigger than a job description: our work is stronger when academic voices sit at the IT leadership table.

Thanks, Alan. For your partnership, your insight—and for reminding us what shared governance looks like in practice.