Rowan names new science and math dean

Rowan University has named a new dean of its College of Science and Mathematics: the interim dean.

Karen Magee-Sauer, who has been interim dean since last July, will officially take the top spot, the university announced Thursday.

She had not applied for the job, and a nationwide search begun in September 2014 had come up with three finalists, Rowan said in a news release.

"After evaluating the three finalists, it was determined that the strongest person for the job actually had been leading the College of Science and Mathematics for the past eight months," Ali A. Houshmand, the university president, said in the release.

Magee-Sauer also will be dean of the School of Biomedical Science and Health Professions. She was chair of the physics department for six years before becoming interim dean of the college. She has been on the university's faculty since 1989.

She received Rowan's highest teaching honor, the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award, in 2007.