Wayne State College has been searching for a new Vice President of Academic Affairs for the past couple years after Steven Elliot stepped down from the position near the end of 2023. So far, the search has been relatively unsuccessful. However, this week, WSC began interviewing four new candidates to fill the position.
The administration of WSC is hopeful that they will find someone right for the job in this next wave of interviews.
The first interview was conducted Monday, Nov. 10, as an open forum with Alyssa Kiesow, the Dean of College of Arts and Sciences, and Director of Sponsored Projects at Northern State University. The seats in the room were nearly filled by over 50 interested attendees. From professors to administration to community members to local media, many were invested in the process.
The open forum format of the interviews allows candidates to sell themselves to not just the administration, but anyone who wants to listen.
The VPAA is an incredibly important position to fill, and as such, the search process includes many people. While the search for VPAA itself is run by the Vice President of Student Affairs, CD Douglas, the open forums allow space for staff and community input.
WSC professors and staff were specifically invited by email to attend the first of the four candidate interviews. They also have been called on to evaluate their new potential administrators.
“Your participation and feedback are vital in selecting our next academic leader,” said Candace Timmerman, WSC Director of Human Resources.
After attending the 50-minute session, attendees were invited to fill out a survey by email contributing their thoughts on the candidate.
While people have differing ideas of what the new VPAA should focus their efforts on, there are some important characteristics the majority of the WSC staff are looking for.
The new WSC VPAA needs to be able to better connect the professors to their administrators. They will oversee both the educational programs of the college and the faculty. Moreover, they must have a plan to better WSC for the future. In Monday’s open forum, the candidate provided ideas for improvements in the educational pathways.
“Some of these ideas are not just about the academic piece,” said VPAA candidate Alyssa Kiesow from Northern State University.
She presented the idea that student success is based on “relevant and innovative academic programing,” “student experiences through access and support” and “campus and community connections and growth.”
These values show how a VPAA is able to serve the students by making their college journey better through careful efforts and academic planning.
Ultimately, the new VPAA must serve not only as an academic leader, but as a connection between the administration, faculty, and students to better the learning processes here at WSC.
