The University of North Texas College of Science is pleased to announce that Dr. Lee Hughes has accepted the permanent position of Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies. A UNT alumnus himself, Dr. Hughes has served as a faculty member in the biological sciences department since 2000 and is currently also the director of UNT's successful PHAGES program.

"I have learned a lot in this position while serving as interim associate dean over the last nine months and am happy to stay in this role," said Dr. Hughes. "I look forward to continuing to work with our great faculty and staff to improve the undergraduate experience and academic success for students in the College of Science."

Though the college recently experienced a period of transition in leadership which involved a year-long Dean search, Dr. John Quintanilla accepted the permanent appointment of his position as Dean this month as well.

"I leaned hard on Lee during my year as Interim Dean," said Dean Quintanilla. "I trust his leadership, counsel, and judgment."

Dr. Hughes has a bachelor's degree in English, a master's degree in Biology, and a doctorate in Microbiology, all from UNT. His research interests include microbiology and science education. Specifically, he focuses on early research experiences for biology majors and serves as director for UNT's Phage Hunters Advancing Genomics and Evolutionary Science (PHAGES) program, an affiliate of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science Education Alliance. His research laboratory studies the isolation of novel bacterial viruses, known as bacteriophages, that infect the genus Streptomyces.

For more information about Dr. Hughes' research lab, visit http://biology.unt.edu/~lhughes/