They're experts in their fields and essential campus leaders. But how well do you know deans across the University?

This regular Lo Que Pasa series introduces deans across campus and provides insight into their motivations, challenges and reasons for choosing to work at the UA.

This week, meet a dean who came to the UA because of the College of Humanities' diverse community. He is the author of four books and once worked as a DJ on French radio.

Name: Alain-Philippe Durand

College: College of Humanities

Dean since: July 1

Fun fact: I was a professional DJ for several years on French radio, a long time ago.

When and why did you choose the UA?

I came to the UA in 2010 from the University of Rhode Island as director of the new School of International Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. The factors that sealed the deal for me were the UA's reputation for interdisciplinarity and bold innovations, the UA's strong support of the humanities and a college dedicated to the humanities, and the international reputation of the College of Humanities' units. We are a diverse community of fantastic students, donors, faculty scholars and staff.

What's one thing happening in your college right now that people should know about?

Our units are among national leaders in their respective areas. Many of our departments, like East Asian Studies, French and Italian, German Studies, Spanish and Portuguese have among the largest number of majors or attract the largest number of students in the U.S. For example, the most recent data from the Modern Language Association shows that our department of Spanish and Portuguese has the highest overall enrollment of any of the more than 3,000 institutions that offer Spanish in the country. And according to data from the Survey of Earned Doctorates, between 2008 and 2014 we produced the third-highest number of Ph.D.s in Spanish in the nation.

What does the future hold for the College of Humanities?

Thanks to recent significant financial investment and support by the UA administration, the College of Humanities is going to grow and continue to play an increasing role in experiential learning – both in local communities and abroad – internationalization on and off campus, and the UA's strong commitment to inclusive excellence. Most recently, we have partnered with various entities nationally and internationally in groundbreaking initiatives in multilingualism, digital humanities, and applied and public humanities. Our scholarly research is central to the challenge posed by the increasing number of terrorist attacks worldwide. There is a high and growing demand for the humanities expertise in literature, culture, religion, language and foreign analysis. Humanists' skills, such as critical thinking, adapting quickly to unfamiliar environments, intercultural competence, analyzing both fiction and reality, and the ability to communicate effectively with people from diverse backgrounds, are the perfect complement to any other discipline and are at the core to the eventual solving of some of today's grand challenges, like why there is terrorism and intolerance, and how to stop them.

What is your leadership philosophy?

Listen, communicate assertively, strategize and decide, delegate, always keep moving upward and forward, all with total inclusiveness.

What is something most people don't know about you?

If profiteroles are on the menu, I must have them no matter what.

What do you enjoy doing in your free time? 

I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I am an avid reader, a serious soccer fan and I enjoy watching films and listening to hip-hop, jazz, French touch and Brazilian music, among other genres. And running ­– to burn off these profiteroles!

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