Adminstrative Experience

COLLEGE OF LAKE COUNTY

As Dean of Communication Arts, Humanities, and Fine Arts, I provide vision, leadership, and strategic direction to 300 full and part-time faculty across thirteen academic departments, including a diverse blend of transfer and career program in Art, Communication, Dance, Digital Media and Design, English, Humanities, Latin-American Studies, Music, Philosophy, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Technical Communication, Theatre and World Languages.

Under my leadership, the Com Arts Division has spearheaded several district-wide initiatives, including our Community Art Engagement Workshops and our Voices of Lake County Project. Our division has also led the college in developing and extending our Fields of Interests, adding several new career and transfer pathways in Arts, Digital Media, and Communication, and Humanities, Culture, and Global Studies.

KANKAKEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Reporting to the Vice President of Instructional and Student Success, I was responsible for providing strategic leadership and oversight to the Humanities and Social Sciences Division, as well as the Miner Memorial Library. I supervised 18 full and part-time administrative and support staff, as well as provided budgetary authority and supervision to an additional 20 part-time employees in the Writing Center and Multicultural Students Services Center. In addition, I provided pedagogical training, support, and supervision to 40 full-time and adjunct faculty representing the following disciplines: art, art history, communication, English, foreign languages, geography, history, humanities, philosophy, psychology, social work, sociology, and writing. In addition to serving students in online, hybrid, and face to face formats, I took a lead role in formalizing and standardizing KCC’s dual credit offerings, as well as as developing Fast Path, the college’s first guided pathway initiative. We have also recently revamped our master schedule, and significantly expanded our hybrid course offerings.

COLLEGE OF DUPAGE

As Associate Dean of English and Academic ESL at College of DuPage, I was responsible for providing strategic leadership, professional development and support to 34 full-time and more than 200 part-time faculty. As the largest subdivision at COD, English and Academic ESL offers courses in literature, film, ESL, developmental reading, developmental writing, professional writing, creative writing, and composition to more than 15,000 students annually.

At COD I spearheaded a number of significant initiatives, including piloting an Accelerated Learning Program model, and spearheading Writing on the Edge (WOTE).

ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY

In 2010, I joined the faculty at Roosevelt University in Chicago, where I served as Director of the English Composition Program, in addition to directing the Graduate Credential in Teaching of Writing Program.

At Roosevelt I have been responsible for leading a team of 5 full-time lecturers and approximately 30 adjunct faculty. The program offers six different courses, offered both face-to-face and online that reach approximately 3000 students a year.

Just after I arrived in 2010, we initiated a significant program review process, the details of which can be found here.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI

From 2007 to 2010, I served as Director of Composition in the Department of English at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

The Composition Program at USM serves approximately 5000 students each year, and offers a wide-range of courses, including: the required first-year writing sequence (Eng 099, 101 and 102), several upper-division writing-intensive courses (Eng 330, 332 and 333); as well as a number of graduate courses (Eng 637, 690 and 792).

In addition to being responsible for the design, implementation, assessment, and day-to-day administration of all composition courses taught within the department, I supervised and provided pedagogical training and support to approximately 80 graduate teaching assistants and instructors. This work included organizing a five day pre-service orientation for new instructors each summer, as well as teaching a required six-credit, two semester pedagogy sequence designed to introduce new instructors to the theory and practice of composition instruction.

In 2008, I receive a grant to redesign our “Technical Writing” course at USM — the details of this project you can see here.

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

I also gained significant administrative experience while a graduate student at both the University of Utah and Penn State.

At the request the Director of the Writing Program, I served as Interim Coordinator of First Year Writing in 2005. In this position I redeveloped the curriculum of the required first year writing course (approximately 150 sections). I also organized and conducted new instructor orientation, a four day introduction for new graduate students to the goals and practices of writing instruction in the program.

From 2003-2004, I also served as Coordinator/Liaison for the Information Literacy Program at the Marriott Library. In this position I helped developed, coordinate and supervise information literacy outreach for the writing program, including designing instructional materials, training instructors, and scheduling library sessions for over 2800 undergraduate students. I also coordinated a series of “research labs” designed to provide additional assistance to undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff.

THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

While at Penn State, I served as Director of the College of the Liberal Arts Internship Program from 1997-1998. My duties included creating course materials and supervising students enrolled in LA 295, 395 and 495 — a series of independent studies courses designed to allow undergraduates to earn academic credit while completing internships in government, business and industry.