Denis O’Hearn, Alum, Named UTEP Dean of College of Liberal Arts
EL PASO, Texas - The University of Texas at El Paso is pleased to announce that Denis O’Hearn, Ph.D., has been appointed Dean of the College of Liberal Arts effective July 1, 2018. He comes to UTEP from Texas A&M University, where he has led the Department of Sociology since 2016.
O’Hearn, a native of Carlsbad, New Mexico, earned his doctorate in sociology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1988. He also earned master’s degrees in sociology (’85), and in economics and Russian & Eastern European Studies (’78) from the same institution. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of New Mexico in 1975.
Before arriving at Texas A&M, O’Hearn was a professor of sociology at Binghamton University, which is part of the State University of New York. He also has held academic positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Notre Dame, and institutions in Turkey, Japan, Portugal, Ireland and Réunion Island. He was a Fulbright Scholar in the Department of Sociology at University College-Dublin, Ireland, in 1991-92.
“We are pleased that Dr. Denis O’Hearn will join UTEP as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts,” said University President Diana Natalicio. “His combination of regional roots, international experience and a deeply held belief in the central role UTEP plays in creating authentic higher education opportunities for talented students in this region, will enable him to build on the college’s many major accomplishments.”
