Breahna Lesemann –
All students have at least heard of the Deans of Illinois College, but it might not be as widely known what exactly these authority figures do. Before this year, there were only two Deans of the College, but with the addition of a third Dean this semester the hope is that the work of the Deans can be distributed out evenly between the three, allowing every aspect of the school to be taken care of.
A Dean is a person who has a management and leadership position, usually in an academic setting. In previous years, IC has had a Dean and an Associate Dean. Now the positions have changed. Dean Elizabeth Tobin is now Provost, a high ranking administrator at the college, in addition to her role as Dean of the College. Dean Adam Porter, who was previously the Associate Dean, is now the Dean of Faculty. The new Dean is Dean Andrew Jones, and he is now Dean of Student Success.
Dean Jones, as his title suggests, will be in charge of the success of the students. He said, “What is most exciting about the new position is the opportunity to help students reach success regardless of where they are starting from.” This involves finding ways to help students who might not have been prepared by their high school for Illinois College’s level of academic work.
With the new position, there can be more oversight in the student support services such as the writing and speech centers and the Center for Academic Excellence. It also allows better service to higher achieving students with the creation of the Dorothy Foster Society. If the students made the choice to join this group, after being invited, they could meet about once a month to participate in more challenging activities. Most recently these students had a discussion about the Jimmy Carter convocation.
Along with allowing more focus on student success the new position allows Dean Porter and Dean Tobin to focus on developing their own areas.
Dean Tobin said, “We are trying to make it possible for our office to take on more projects and continue the ones that we have been doing.” The creation of the new position also allows Dean Tobin to focus on a strategy map which is a plan to improve Illinois College overall. There is a Strategy Map Stirring Committee with fifteen people which is headed by Dean Tobin. This committee is in charge of defining the direction of Illinois College’s strategy.
This map has nine different themes or concepts, such as “inspire purposeful teaching and learning” and “integrate marketing strategy.” Each of these themes is meant to improve the college. These themes were created from the thought of the staff and some of the students who were interested in giving input on the college. There are forty-five faculty and staff members that are assigned these themes and they form a “theme team.”
Dean Tobin is head of the Strategy Map Stirring Committee who meets about once a month, as well as supervising a section of these themes. These teams recently presented their plans to President Farley. These teams will present to the President again in December after some revisions.
Breahna Lesemann, from Bath, Illinois, is a sophomore majoring in English Education with a minor in Theatre at Illinois College. Breahna is a writer for the The Rambler and a member of the IC concert choir.
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