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May 7, 2001
Q&A:
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"We can be responsive to the larger community and still remain faithful to the liberal arts tradition." |
Richard
Gigliotti
Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Richard Gigliotti's mission for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), is not one he takes lightly: to provide excellence in service to students. A sociologist specializing in social psychology, Gigliotti firmly believes offering a quality liberal arts education will not only benefit the students, but the community as well. Soon approaching the one-year mark in his tenure as dean, Gigliotti recently took some time to discuss where he wants to take CHSS by 2008 and how the College will get there.
INSIGHT:
How do you plan to accomplish your mission for CHSS?
Gigliotti: I spent the first year getting to know the departments' strengths
and areas that need improvement. The chairs and faculty also got to know me.
Now we're in the process of laying out a plan. The departments have been developing
strategic plans, laying out where they want to be in 2008, detailing specific
ideas for initiatives, considering degrees they want to develop or de-emphasize,
and looking for new opportunities that exist off campus. I will study those
plans and come up with a college-wide plan in the summer. I will then share
the draft plan in the fall with department chairs and faculty to discuss where
we're going and how we're going to get there.
INSIGHT: Does that involve hiring new faculty?
Gigliotti: As with many universities, a lot of faculty hired in the late '60s
and early '70s are retiring, so hiring new faculty is critical. We will have
17 new faculty members who span almost all the departments joining us in the
fall. I'm also looking for opportunities to reach out to the community, so I'm
interested in our faculty becoming involved in service-learning opportunities.
We've hired faculty who will help us maintain quality teaching, and who will
move on the reaching-out front.
INSIGHT: How will programs in CHSS provide service to the surrounding
communities?
Gigliotti: There are educational needs out there, and we have a responsibility
to be tuned in to them and determine whether we can contribute to those areas.
We need to modify our curriculum as we go along because nothing is static. We
can be responsive to the larger community and still remain faithful to the liberal
arts tradition. A liberal arts education helps us to think critically, write
well, and be able to analyze and solve issues that are important to us by working
effectively with other people. That's what we're aboutÑeducation of the total
person so he or she can be flexible in this modern era of rapid changeÑand that's
what businesses are looking for. We need to create or modify our programs so
they fit with contemporary and social needs. That doesn't mean we have to abandon
traditional programs. It simply means we have to dust them off and freshen them
up.
INSIGHT: Name some strengths you would like to build on.
Gigliotti: One clear strength is the quality of scholarship that exists hereÑthe
scholarly articles and the faculty's national and international reputations.
That's something I want to maintain and enhance. I'm also delighted at students
telling me what great teachers we have. The faculty does care. They see their
role as teachers and they spend time with the students. That balance between
teaching and traditional research is one of the main reasons I came here.
INSIGHT: How does modern technology fit in with the liberal arts?
Gigliotti: Several members of the faculty are experimenting with different modes
for distance delivery. For example, Dave Stuehler of English taught a freshman
English class on the Web as an experimental course; and Susana Sotillo of Linguistics
is the first professor in this college, to my knowledge, to teach a graduate
course with wireless technology. Robert McCormick of the Hispanic Institute
and Applied Psychology runs a post-baccalaureate certificate program that we're
delivering to the New Jersey state Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS)
that is being received so well that the state asked us to deliver it via distance
learning to southern New Jersey. Students have varied needs and circumstances,
so it makes sense to provide courses via distance learning that maintain excellence.
