Among the multiple personnel changes in the Marquette administration this summer, the most prominent was the promotion of former College of Business Administration Dean Linda Salchenberger to the newly created position of associate provost for academic planning and budgeting.

Mark Eppli, a professor of finance and the Bell Chair of real estate, will serve as the interim dean until the university selects a permanent candidate. He becomes the university’s second current interim dean, joining Philip Rossi of the College of Arts & Sciences.

The change was announced in a university news brief on July 30.

Salchenberger’s new role will require her to work alongside the provost, the vice president of finance, the executive vice president and the strategic planning coordinating committee with the intention of aligning the university’s academic priorities and goals with the financial planning process.

She is currently meeting with the university’s academic leaders, including the deans, to gather their positions on what they believe are the most urgent issues and themes related to financial planning.

“I am very optimistic that this will be a collaborative effort across campus, engaging students, faculty and the community, in the process of translating these themes into actions,” Salchenberger said.

In a note on the business school’s website, Salchenberger assured that she “will work closely with Interim Dean Mark Eppli to ensure a smooth transition.”

Eppli has been part of the Marquette faculty since 2002 and is an academic expert in commercial mortgage finance, new urbanism and commercial real estate development, shopping center economics and single-family housing evaluation.

Eppli is also the author of several widely read publications and has been recognized for his endeavors to extend the real estate profession to minorities. He plans to collaboratively teach an undergraduate real estate development course this fall.

“I’m grateful for Professor Eppli’s willingness to step in as interim dean,” John Pauly, the university’s provost, said.  “He has built strong relationships with many stakeholders, including faculty, students, staff, alumni and the business community.”

According to Pauly, the search for the permanent dean will begin in spring 2013. The new dean is expected to begin July 1, 2014. Eppli said the new dean will likely use the summer before the fall 2014 semester begins as a transition period.

Pauly said the processes for recruiting an academic appointment, such as dean, tend to follow a “rhythm of their own.” Potential candidates normally seek openings in the fall, interview during the winter and are chosen by spring. The university postponed this recruitment cycle until spring 2013 to ensure that it acquires the most competitive pool of prospective candidates for the college.

“We need to have the best chief academic officer executive that we can get for this college,” Eppli said. “That’s what we need for leadership.”

Details about the search for the new dean have not yet been determined. However, the search committee will be composed of faculty members, a dean from another college, a university trustee and one or two alumni.

Eppli, who led the six-month search in 2007 that led to Salchenberger’s appointment as dean, said it will likely take that same amount of time to find the appropriate fit for the position this time around.

In the meantime, Eppli hopes to take a “servant-leader” approach in his tasks as dean. His goal is to support the students, faculty and administration in “doing what they see needs to be done for the College of Business (Administration).”

For Eppli, a first-generation college graduate, attaining a college degree and Ph.D was “a big deal.” But acting as the dean of the business college, in his opinion, is not just a big deal – he said he perceives this feat as both an honor and responsibility that he looks forward to fulfilling this year.

“It is very exciting,” Eppli said. “It’s an honor to say it is you who are leading and needing to inspire the class of 2016.”

Marquette also announced new chairs in three departments Monday, including Spanish Professor Anne Pasero of the department of foreign languages and literatures, Military Science Professor Lt. Col. Michael Gibson of the department of  military sciences and associate professor of political science Lowell Barrington.