DePauw's Civic, Global and Professional Opportunities Development (CGPOPS) Department, in charge of coordinating everything from internships to study abroad programs to service opportunities, is on the hunt for a dean.
The department is hoping to get the perfect candidate to fill the new position of Dean for Experiential Education and Student Services to help them to better prepare students for post-graduation and to strengthen the department as a whole. DePauw has hired a search firm - Isaacson Miller - to find candidates for the position.
"We want students to be ready when they graduate for the variety that the world is offering them," said Dr. Pedar Foss, dean of Academic Life. "They are going around finding good candidates and asking them quietly if they would be interested in the position as all the good candidates will already be employed somewhere else."
There is also a faculty search committee in charge of reviewing the candidates and deciding whom to interview. The committee includes Foss, professors Lili Wright, Doug Harms and Russ Arnold, Ken Kirkpatrick from the Registrar's office and Vice President of Student Life Cindy Babington.
President Brian Casey chairs the committee.
The faculty search committee, with the help of the hired search firm, will select the top eight candidates, who they will interview.
"We are looking for a person who has been in the academy, someone who understands how the university works, who has worked with non-profits," Casey said. "It's a stunningly complex search."
Then the committee will select three from those eight and invite them to campus for an on campus interview. According to Harms, during their on-campus interview they will meet with students, the search committee, and staff members in CGPOPS. Then, based on all the input, the committee will then make a selection and submit it to administration.
According to Foss, the dean's job will consist of four main areas: Articulating what experiential education and DePauw's vision for it is, communicating DePauw's vision to everyone, gaining the resources necessary to make experiential learning accessible to all students and managing the department and all it encompasses.
"There is a profound hunger among students to meet with professionals about various opportunities," Casey said. "We are looking for a person to put behind it to drive the department and make it stronger."
Foss also stated that they are looking for someone with "the comprehensive vision to bring our approach to experiential learning to a new level."
The committee's goal is to have a dean hired by the beginning of the next academic year.
But even without a dean, CGPOPS is getting attention beyond DePauw. On March 13, 2012, Steve Langerud, a member of CGPOPS, was quoted in the U.S News and World Report article "7 Goofs to Avoid on a Thank-You Email."
The article offers helpful tips on post-interview thank you notes to hopeful job applicants. This was not the first article Langerud had been quoted in this academic year.
Previously, Forbes, The New York Times and Time Magazine, as well as several others, have contacted DePauw.
"No other schools have an office or a position like this," Casey said. "This is the moment to start investing in student experience and the way we send students into the world."