Two West Virginia University academic officials will step down from their posts as of June 30. Gerald E. Lang, provost and vice president for academic affairs and research announced his resignation in a letter to the campus Monday. R. Stephen Sears, dean of the College of Business and Economics, has indicated to the provost that he also intends to resign.

A member of the WVU faculty since 1976, Lang is also a former assistant dean for research and former dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. He was appointed to his current position in 1996 by then-President David C. Hardesty.

As Provost, Lang has responsibility for leadership, management, and policy development for all academic, research, and public service programs, including the WVU Libraries, the WVU Extension Service, information technology, and international programs.

In his more than 30 years at WVU , Lang was directly involved in many key University initiatives, including providing leadership on one of the Universitys important initiatives aimed at increasing expectations and performance of undergraduate students and overseeing the $25 million WVU Library initiative.

Lang received his bachelors degree from Western Illinois University, his masters degree from the University of Wyoming, and his doctorate from Rutgers University in 1973. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Dartmouth College. In 1976 he joined WVU as an assistant professor of biology. He was promoted to the rank of professor in 1984. His research was supported by approximately $2 million in competitively awarded grants. He has co-edited one book and published more than 50 papers.

Sears was appointed dean at WVU in 2005. Previously, he was senior executive associate dean of Rawls College of Business Administration at Texas Tech University, where he taught at Texas Tech’s business school as the Lubbock Bankers’Association Professor of Finance.

As dean of the WVU College of Business and Economics, Sears worked with faculty to develop the college’s strategic plan and raised the national profile of the Colleges programs, including the Center for Chinese Business, the Entrepreneurship Center and the forensic accounting program.

Prior to his deanship at Texas Tech, he was the department chair of the Area of Finance and the professor and director of the Institute for Banking and Financial Studies. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he held professor and lecturer positions.

Sears has written two books on investment management, a chapter for another book, and several articles. He has an associates degree from Odessa Junior College, bachelors and masters degrees in business administration from Texas Tech, and a doctorate in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

May 5, 2008 statement from WVU President Mike Garrison

April 28, 2008 statement from WVU President Mike Garrison

April 28, 2008 statement from WVU Board of Governors

April 28, 2008 statement from Student Body President

Report of the Special Investigative Panel and meeting notes