The Ohio State College of Humanities is under new leadership as the search continues for a permanent dean.

Professor Michael Hogan, recently appointed interim dean of the college, said he has high aspirations for the college.

“We’re on a very strong upward trajectory as a college,” Hogan said.

Hogan, who received his doctoral degree from the University of Iowa, was chairman of the history department until his appointment to the position of interim dean.

He said he sees his role in the next year as dean to aid the college in continuing the trend. He said he would like to see the college improve as an instrument of instruction and research within the university.

Part of this enhancement of the college includes the $20 million renovation of Hagerty Hall. Hagerty will become the new home for the foreign language department. The project plans include the development of the World Media and Culture Center. The center will incorporate the latest technology into the process of teaching and learning foreign languages.

“We are literally on the cutting edge in bringing in the technology to advance the teaching and learning mission,” Hogan said. “The World Media and Culture Center will help people to master the knowledge they need to function in the next century.”

The technology will allow individualized language training, as well as distance learning where students can communicate with others around the globe through Internet technology.

With 17 departments and units in the College of Humanities, as well as 300 world-class faculty, Hogan sees the college as part of the core of the academic mission of OSU.

“The college includes everything from history to English to classics, women’s studies, African-American studies and foreign languages,” Hogan said.

He expressed that this diversity is an asset and a strength for the college.

Hogan said that the College of Humanities is probably the most diverse in the university with women and minorities comprising 42 percent of the college. This diversity makes the college “interesting intellectually, socially and culturally,” according to Hogan.

Hogan came to OSU as a full professor in 1986, with a specialization in world history and an emphasis on foreign policy.

He has also worked as an historical consultant for the Public Broadcasting Service.

He is the chairman of the Department of State‘s Advisory Committee on Diplomatic Documentation in Washington, D.C. The committee, made up of representatives from professional organizations of historians, attorneys and archivists, meets four times a year.

The committee works to “agitate for the declassification of national security documents,” Hogan said.

Hogan also published a book last October, entitled A Cross of Iron: Harry Truman and the Origins of the National Security State. This is his third book. He is the editor of six others.