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Associate Vice President/Dean of Students Discusses Goals |
| By
Kimyette Finley |
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Jan 15, 2004 |
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| Dr. Ronald Speier |
Dr. Ronald Speier became The University of Toledo’s associate vice president/dean of students last July. Prior to UT, he spent 16 years at East Carolina University in Greenville and served as assistant vice chancellor for student life and dean of students.
His accomplishments at East Carolina University included the creation of the Student Leadership Development Program, where he raised more than $85,000 to support ongoing and endowed scholarships for student leaders.
UT News recently talked with Speier about his goals and vision for his division.
How’s the transition been to Toledo?
My wife, Nancy, and I knew we were coming to a place that has numerous opportunities. We came for the University, family and cultural opportunities. I’ve found myself on major University committees with major responsibilities to represent the division. I’m trying to pace myself and make sure I have time for students and contact with the staff. I’m having a great time here. I don’t feel like I’ve missed a beat from my experiences versus what I have to learn.
There have been some emergencies, such as the students who were hurt in the stadium. The dean works very closely with the parents, families and University personnel. It’s a conduit back and forth of what we’re doing to help those students and giving that information to the appropriate administrators. I spent a lot of time in the hospital, on the phone and behind the scenes to make sure the needs were being met on both sides. I’ve been involved in crisis management before, and I was able to use those experiences here.
Have students expressed concerns to you about feeling valued here?
I believe that students do feel valued here, and I think we have a student body we can be proud of. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been responsible for the University’s assessment plan. The Spring 2003 Student Satisfaction Inventory has an entire section on concern for the individual. When you look at comparable schools, such as the University of Akron and the University of Memphis, we do better on satisfaction than those schools. This assessment gives us the opportunity to cut across all classifications of students and demographics. Where students are satisfied with what we do, let’s not just rest on that, but see if we can do better.
I walk around and meet students and try to get out to student functions, and I’ve also been attending neighborhood meetings to see what neighbors think of the students and vice versa. If you don’t reach out to the students where they are, they’re not likely to come in and tell you anything. We are going to continue to respond to students who are in need when an issue presents itself, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t anticipate students’ needs [before they happen]. I think we need to be constantly diligent.
There was a dramatic increase in the satisfaction of diversity programs that the University has developed or that are in place. We’re improving residence halls — the staffing and programming are better, and there are living/learning floors. There’s a section in the student survey that measures being student-centered. It asks if students feel a sense of belonging, and our students report that they do feel a strong sense of belonging.
You said being student-centered has been your life’s mission and work. What does being student-centered mean?
One of the things that attracted me to this university was the mission statement, which said it was an urban university that was student-centered. It stated right upfront that it valued students — that was very important to me. When I toured the facilities, I met students, I had luncheons with student leaders, and there were students on the committee. So that gave me a sense that this [position] really was their dean.
There are professionals in the work world that still have a relationship with the University and it’s important for them to know their dean of students. I tell people I’m not the dean of students — I’m their dean of students. Deans are supposed to reach out to students no matter who they are or where they are.
What are some of your goals?
The University’s goals trickle down to the deans and directors. One of my goals is to develop a student leadership development program. We have Leadership UT right now, but we don’t have an integrated program that allows students to come in at their interest level, such as an emerging leader who’s a freshman and just wants to get some ideas on what a leader is versus a third-year student who needs information. We have a proposal for a living/learning leadership floor for new freshmen and not just for residents — we want an equal number of commuters, where they can spend the night in the residence halls and work on leadership development activities.
I want our staff to be cross-trained. We need to do more staff development activities. Another goal is to have our student government be more of a representative student body and to be perceived as a group to look to when there’s a need to discuss major issues, and make sure those students are represented on University committees.
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