Summer 2001 - Wayne State College

Restructing Process CulminatesDeans Named to Head the Four New SchoolsDeans have been named to head the four new schools atWayne State College as of July 1, the date the year-longacademic restructuring process took effect. The new academicstructure includes the following schools: Arts and Humanities,Business and Technology, Education and Counseling, andNatural and Social Sciences. The schools replace eightacademic divisions at the college. “We are excited about thenew academic structure at Wayne State College,” said Dr. DavidFuller, vice president for academic affairs. “We believe that itwill enable us to more effectively and efficiently provideprograms and services to our students and our service area.”“I am confident that these four deans will provideoutstanding leadership and support to our students in theschools which they lead,” said Fuller. “I look forward toworking with them.”The new schools and deans include:School of Arts andHumanities: James F.O’Donnell, Doctor or Arts,professor of music andchairperson of thedepartment of music atIndiana State University,Terre Haute, Ind.O’Donnell received a doctor of arts degree from BallState University in 1987. In his position as chair of theISU music department, O’Donnell supervised sevenundergraduate and graduate degree programs, 55 full- andpart-time faculty and staff, coordinated communityoutreach and fund-raising activities, and initiated programdevelopment projects. He was also responsible foroversight of the school’s Community Music Center.School of Business andTechnology: Vaughn Benson,Ph.D. Benson has been a WSCfaculty member in the divisionof business since 1974, servingas division head since 1982. Heholds a Ph.D. from theUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln with emphasis areas inadministration of higher education, financial accounting,public accounting, and management information systems.During Benson’s tenure as division head, the division ofbusiness has been active in delivering courses and programsto the region, and has been an integral part of ruraldevelopment activities. For 24 years, the division hashoused the Nebraska Business Development Center.School of Education andCounseling: Paul Theobald,Ph.D. Theobald has been thedean of the WSC division ofeducation since 1998. He received his Ph.D. in educationalpolicy studies from the University of Illinois. Prior tocoming to Wayne State College, he was director of theschool of education at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, head of the department of teacher education atSouth Dakota State University, and an assistant professor atTexas A & M University. He is the author of Teaching theCommons: Place, Pride, and the Renewal of Community.School of Naturaland Social Sciences:Steven Alston, Ph.D.,associate professor ofphysics at PennsylvaniaState University, NewKensington, Penn. Alston has served as a visitingresearch scientist at the Institute of Physics, ArhusUniversity in Denmark, and at the University ofTennessee. He has been a research associate at theJoint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics in Boulder,Colo., and a research and teaching associate at theUniversitat Freiburg in Germany. He holds a Ph.D. inphysics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.Wayne State Magazine 7WSC Magazine Summer 01710/2/01, 2:48 PM