A 15-member search committee has been appointed to identify potential successors to Sharon Nickols, who will step down as dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences next July.

Provost Arnett C. Mace Jr. appointed the committee, which includes faculty, staff, students and alumni. Maureen Grasso, dean of the Graduate School, is chair of the committee.

Other committee members are Susan Brooks, office manager in the college’s department of housing and consumer economics; Careé Jackson, a doctoral student in foods and nutrition; Art Grider, associate professor of foods and nutrition; Tammy Gilland, president of the Family and Consumer Sciences Alumni Association; Tonya Dalton, chair of the family and consumer sciences staff council; Leslie ­Simons, assistant professor of child and family development; Karen Leonas, professor of textiles, merchandising and interiors; Debbie Wilburn, public service associate in the Cooperative Extension Service; Steve Beach, director of the Institute for Behavioral Research; Silvia Giraudo, assistant professor of foods and nutrition; Lance Palmer, assistant professor of housing and consumer economics; Mel Garber, associate dean for extension in the college; and Don Bower, head of the department of child and family development.

Nickols, the longest-serving of the deans of UGA’s 15 schools and colleges, will remain on the faculty and will teach and conduct research.