March 15, 2001

Contact: Robert Lowery (509-963-1487/fax 509-963-2301/ email loweryr@cwu.edu)

After nearly a decade in the position, Dr. Gary Lewis resigned today (THURSDAY, MARCH 15) as Central Washington University dean of libraries.

In accepting the resignation, Dr. David Dauwalder, CWU provost/senior vice president for academic affairs, accommodated Lewis' request to be reassigned to the faculty, as professor of librarianship. Lewis has served as dean of libraries at CWU since Aug. 12, 1991.

"In addition, I want to recognize publicly his accomplishments as dean," Dauwalder says, including the role Lewis has played in overseeing expansion of the CWU Library, through increasing university and public access to electronic resources.

"He was instrumental in the development of our on-line catalog," Dauwalder points out, "and has been consistently supportive of identifying and implementing systems to provide library and information access to CWU's university-center students and faculty."

Lewis was also an active contributor to statewide efforts to plan and implement Washington's Cooperative Library Project. The project has resulted in the recent implementation of CASCADE, a joint on-line library catalog and resource-sharing system among the libraries of Washington's six public universities and college.

"In conjunction with library faculty and our deans, I'm now in the process of identifying an interim dean," Dauwalder says.

Dr. Richard Mack, associate vice president for graduate studies, research, and faculty, will serve as acting library dean until an interim dean is named. That process will take no more than two weeks, Dauwalder notes.

Lewis came to CWU from North Adams (Mass.) State College, where he was director of library and media services.

Lewis earned his bachelor of arts degree in sociology at Ohio University in 1969, master of library science degree from Western Michigan University in 1974, and doctor of education degree from Virginia Tech in 1985.