WUTM Interviews: Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
- April 25, 2006
- |
- Staff Reports
- Section: News
WUTM 90.3 FM and The Pacer have partnered to bring you audio and text transcripts of interviews with each of the four candidates for Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.
Each of the candidates will have had nine appearances on campus, including a meeting with the chancellor, campus and community tours, meeting with the student media, lunch with the chancellor’s staff, meeting with the directors in student affairs, a campus open forum, a meeting with Equity and Diversity Officer Ann Duncan, dinner with the search committee and a meeting with the student open forum.
Chancellor Nick Dunagan is expected to hear the search committee’s recommendations and select someone to fill the position before the end of the Spring semester.
Dr. Deborrah Hebert
What has your experience been like at UTM thus far? It’s a beautiful campus, really a nice facility. I have been very impressed. I really like the green space that the campus has been able to maintain. Sometimes when you grow you sacrifice green space for parking lots, but I think this campus has done a good job of maintaining the green space.Would you enjoy living in a small town like Martin? Oh certainly. My relatives are from small towns. You get the small town benefit of knowing people.
Aside from your resume, what passions and hobbies do you have? My passion is student development. That is my life work. I have stayed current with the field. If I am not officially working then I enjoy cooking and traveling.
How did you hear about the opening and what made you apply? When I spoke with Al Hooten and checked out the position on the website it looked like this would be a very friendly and positive place.
What is the most memorable experience that you have had from your undergraduate experience? Our president and his wife used to have a spring breakfast. Every year they would do that for us. Now, I realize how important that was. We kind of took it for granted. There are a lot of campuses where the president doesn’t spend that much time with the student leaders. It shaped me because I try to remember that in terms what I do with students and staffs.
What do you think the biggest challenge is that is facing student affairs? I think we are going to have to learn how to deal with technology. If you are communicating in person there are a lot of cues that you pick up. If you are communicating electronically, you don’t always pick up those cues and it’s very difficult to read people that you are talking with. I think another thing is going to be financial aide, because higher education is not getting any cheaper anywhere. We have to continue to look for ways for students to afford an education.
What is your position and concerns as it pertains to student media? I would like to work as partners with the student media on campus. I think they have a very important role in getting information out and learning themselves. My methodology is usually to be as up front as I can about things.
What is your attitude toward student discipline? My philosophy is for discipline to be fair, consistent and educational.
What have you done that relates to promoting diversity and enhancing the lives of minority and international students? When I was in Louisiana I was blessed to be working with international students for the first time. We would do things like dinners at my house and take tours in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. While I was there, multicultural services were moved under my purview and we began working with some basic celebrations in terms of multicultural education for the campus.
What is the ideal relationship between student affairs and academic affairs? We don’t always want to admit it, but students are here for an education. My role as a vice chancellor is to work with other folks on campus to make sure students get that education. Some of that is out of class learning. I have done things like working with faculty when students have difficulties and helping students learn how to navigate. Faculty are a very crucial parts of the committee that we operate.
How do you balance being in an administrative role and still being on the ground with students? This is my life’s work. You have to be approachable and be available and utilize the staff and student leaders that you have to get your programs going. As an administrator I need to make sure that I do my homework and that I get good information.
Dr. Gary Gaston
What student affairs experience do you have right now? I have a lot of years in student affairs, most recently as vice chancellor of student affairs at a two year school. Prior to that I was at the University of Arkansas at Monticello where I supervised a broad arrange of areas. I have enjoyed working in student services all these years. It is a great area in terms of helping students and seeing them being successful.What have you thought of Martin? It is a beautiful campus. It is well maintained. It has so much renovation and growth going on right now. This is something to be proud of.
How did you hear about the position and why did you apply? I read about it in the Chronicle of Higher Education. My initial reason for being interested was because of the areas that are involved. They are areas that I have experience in and areas that I enjoy. I want to be in a position that I enjoy and be in one where I can be successful.
Tell us your passions and your hobbies. Well, I try to go through midlife crises on a regular basis. The year before last I walked in a store and purchased a motorcycle. My wife required that I buy as much life insurance as available. My wife later decided that she wanted to take up horse back riding. We are both now English style horseback riders. I thought sitting on a horse was something that was easy, but it’s very complicated.
What are the biggest challenges facing student affairs? Student affairs is working with students outside the classroom and caring about them in their totality. We have interests in all aspects of the students’ development. Two areas that I have a concern are one, substance abuse. Students have a long history with problems with substance abuse, primarily alcohol. Trying to educate students to the problems is a concern that I have and I have worked with that at a number of institutions where I have been. In addition, an area that is not high on a lot of campuses is the moral development of students. Our students should understand the moral and ethical challenges that they will be facing. We are dealing with the future leaders of our world. We want these people to be concerned about the environment and the welfare of others.
Should a state school involve itself in teaching morality? The separation of church and state, which is a very good thing, has directed a lot of institutions to take a position of not addressing the moral issues. I don’t want to define the position that students should take but realize that so many of the students that we make have moral implications. When we are talking about morals, we are talking about the values that we have internally that help us make our decisions.
What is your attitude toward student discipline? I have been involved in discipline for a lot of years. That was the area that I started in with student affairs. I believe that student discipline is important for the campus in two main areas. One, we have a responsibility to help our students grow and be good citizens in the community.
What is your management and leadership style? I am a big believer in team leadership. I am a believer in the Myers-Briggs model that holds that everyone brings a unique set of skills and personalities to the table. The team that can make the most use of this diversity is the team that is going to be the most successful. I encourage people to bring their strengths and their interests and use these to serve the common goals.
What roles have you taken to promote diversity and enhance the lives of international and minority students? Diversity is very important for a number of reasons. We should be helping students develop an understanding of other people and you can’t do that if you are not exposed to people that are different. It is important that we do as much as possible to diversity the student body and to diversify the staff. In past hiring opportunities, I have tried to make sure that I seek out and hire the most diverse staff as possible.
What is your view of Greek organizations? I have a very positive view. I was in a fraternity. My wife and two daughters were in the same sorority. Greek organizations are a wonderful opportunity for students. There are so many developmental opportunities that exist. Periodically Greek organizations wander into situations that we do not want them in, but that can happen with any organization.
Dr. Leroy Durant
What do you think of Martin so far? It has been a very good experience. There are very friendly people.What are your hobbies and passions? I have a passion in soccer. I run a lot and I believe in running to stay healthy. I am an every day person. When you see me you don’t have to wonder who I am. I am going to be on the forefront of most everything that exists. My passion is for students.
What experience do you have in student affairs and what is the biggest challenge that faces the division of student affairs? I have roughly 15 years of experience as chief student affairs officers at various universities. One of the challenges that I see is for student affairs to understand the students that come to campus year after year. The students bring different issues year after year. The division has to look at resources that the division may have to serve the students.
Give us an idea of your philosophy toward student discipline. It really depends on the situation. I believe students come to the institution to obtain knowledge. At times you have to walk with students to teach them wrong from right. Sometimes you have to discipline severely and suspend from the university. I am a disciplinarian. I believe in discipline. I encourage students to take a look at the handbook.
What is your management and leadership style? I believe in participation management. I use individuals within the division to make sound decisions. I do not believe in micro management. I am a person who believes in staff development very heavily.
How would you balance the administrative roles of the position and be with students? You have to be able to manage your time and realize that the job is not eight to five. You have to go to student meetings and organizations.
What is the ideal relationship between student affairs and academic affairs? They should work together to develop the whole student. They must work hand in hand because it is never an academic issue or a student affairs issue. I know that student affairs areas have to collaborate with academic affairs.
David Belote
What are your hobbies and passions? I do love UTM. That is part of my passion. My passion for UTM runs very deep. I enjoy working with students, which is certainly a big passion of mine. I get a lot of energy from working with students. I am a family man. I love doing things with my children. We enjoy the outdoors. At one point in time I enjoyed playing a lot of racquetball.How did your undergraduate experience shape who you are today? When I was a student here at UTM, I can think of the number of faculty and staff that made impressions on me and shaped me. In some ways, that’s what we do here at UTM… influence people and shape them to give them what they need academically and socially.
What do you see as one of the biggest challenges that face student affairs? Some of our challenges deal with how we’re finances and how we can accumulate the resources that we need to serve students. Needs change and cultures change.
What is your philosophy toward student discipline? That particular office takes most all of our cases. From a philosophical point of view, there are students who from time to time stub their toe in their environment and do some things that cause them to break a policy or rule. There are degrees of discipline. Our philosophy of discipline is one that involves counseling, making sure that they understand the policy. Each case is different. We try to be as fair and as open as we possibly can. We like to be the students’ advocate in the situation.
What is your management style? I am one that engages people. I want input from everybody. This is our university. My style calls for gathering people together on issues, working through things, putting things on the table and having a plan. I would be very open and very engaging.
What have you done so far that relates to diversity? We have always encouraged the promotion and celebration of differences. Along with that, we need to celebrate in those ways that we are alike. We have a wonderful environment here with so many different nationalities and cultures. The student affairs office is a major player and contributor in the civil rights conference. I am very proud of our minority affairs office this particular year.
How would you increase a bond between academic and student affairs? A lot of it has to do with communicating with one another. This is an academic community first and foremost. There are ways where you can take everything that goes on in academics and then enhance that through the extracurricular life here at UTM. We always need to be communicating as how we can do things best in both areas. It is impetrative that we have good harmonious relationships with the academic world.
