John W. Koontz, University of Tennessee biochemistry professor and director of the Division of Biology, has been named the interim dean of the newly organized College of Education, Health and Human Sciences.

Loren Crabtree, UT vice president and provost, said in a press release that Koontz would assume his duties June 15.

Crabtree said Koontz will head the new college until a permanent dean is named. The new college was created by the consolidation of the colleges of Education and Human Ecology. The colleges were combined to conserve money.

Education Dean Glennon Rowell and Human Ecology Dean Jim Moran formerly headed the two colleges.

“The outgoing deans, Glennon Rowell and Jim Moran, have provided effective and dedicated services for their colleges,” Crabtree said. “They have earned our admiration and gratitude.”

Crabtree thanked the faculty for the re-creation of the new college.

“This has been a long and sometimes torturous process, and we are not yet at the end. Much remains to be done as we think through curricula, programs, bylaws and innumerable additional issues,” Crabtree said.

Koontz came to the Department of Biochemistry in 1981 from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He had served as head of the department since 1992 before becoming division director in August 2001.

Koontz was also a member of the steering committee of the UT-ORNL Graduate School for Genome Science and Technology.

Originally from Indiana, he received his bachelor’s degree from Earlham College in Richmond and his doctorate from the University of Kentucky. His main field of interest is functional genomics.