Wayne State College is in the process of searching for two candidates to fill the dean positions of the schools of Arts and Humanities and Education.

Alan Bruflat is currently the interim dean for Arts and Humanities and Steve Elliott is the interim dean for Education.

“It’s a very good search process,” said Elliott, vice president for Academic Affairs. “The search committee is faculty led with students serving. It’s a very thorough search that’s been underway. It’s a fair process.”

The search committee has a list of qualifications it looks for when searching for the dean position.

Someone qualified to be a dean must have a terminal degree that aligns with a discipline in the school, service in higher education, administrative leadership in higher education, experience with facilitation of program assessment, strong written, oral and interpersonal communication skills, ability to foster strategic partnerships with regional stakeholders, experience with national accreditation preferred and experience in delivery of online/distance education preferred, experience in matters of faculty and personal preferred.

Any time that a faculty position is open, a search committee is assembled to review potential candidates.

Elliott said the committee’s down to three candidates of Arts and Humanities and four for Education.

The dean of Education candidates include: Cheryl Irish, director of Accreditation and Assessment, Miami University, Oxford, OH; Deborah McCuin, director of Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at Mount Marty College of Yankton, S.D.; Nicholas Shudak, associate professor and division chair of Curriculum and Instruction, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, S.D.; and Usman Adamu, director and associate professor, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan.

The candidates for the dean of Arts and Humanities are: David Bohnert, chair, Department of Music at Wayne State College; Mark Meister, chairperson, Department of Communication, North Dakota State University; and Yasuko Taoka, chair, Department of Languages, Cultures, and International Trade, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

“We have a very strong candidate pool to choose from,” Elliott said.

The position of dean is responsible for the oversight of personnel, activities, budget and facilities of a school. A dean supervises office assistants, instructors, assistant professors, associate professors, professors and staff.

“We should wrap up the search in the next week,” Elliott said. “We should have an announcement before commencement.”