FAIRBANKS -- A longtime professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has been appointed the new dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner says Todd Sherman is a university alumnus and a well-known artist. He has been a full-time art professor on campus for the past five years and has been an adjunct professor since 1986.

He also is the director and founder of the UAF Visual Art Academy and was chairman of the Art Department for nine years.

The College of Liberal Arts is the largest at UAF, encompassing 24 disciplines and roughly 150 faculty. The position of dean has been open since Johnny Payne resigned in April. Anita Hartman has filled in as interim dean for the past five months.