Millikin is swimming in interim positions, but there is no shortage of capable candidates.
After 17 years of teaching at Millikin, Jennifer Schroeder is taking on the Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences position.
Schroeder is currently the Director of the School of Biology and Environmental Studies and is excited to step into the Interim Dean position.
Schroeder now gets to switch her focus from students to helping faculty.
“I’m excited to work more with the faculty within the college,” Schroeder said. “I’ve had an opportunity to get to know the faculty as a whole over my time at Millikin and when I was the Faculty Representative to the board, but this lets me really focus in on faculty in my area to try to help with any challenges, work on recruiting new faculty, try to retain our current faculty, [and] really support those junior faculty as they work on the pre-tenure process.”
Not only is she excited to help faculty grow and learn, but she is also looking forward to figuring out how to market the College of Arts and Sciences.
“I know we are also trying to move forward with some different initiatives, looking at trying to strengthen our own identity as a college because we have such a diverse group of majors within the college,” Schroeder said. “Figuring out how to share with prospective students, parents, and current students what makes us special within the college is something that we’re really working on, and I look forward to helping with that.”
However, this is an uncertain time for Millikin; there has been a massive surge of departures in faculty and administration.
In January, Provost Mary Black announced she would be leaving Millikin at the end of the spring 2025 semester. Due to Black’s impending departure, Nancy Curtin was named Interim Provost.
However, after the President stepped down, Ronald Branch became Acting President. But he could not serve long-term in that position, so Black became Acting President, ultimately speeding up Curtin’s training for Interim Provost and forcing them to pick an Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences immediately.
This complicated time will make it hard for Curtin and Schroeder to acclimate and get proper training, but Schroeder isn’t worried about it.
“I think one of the great things is because [Black, Curtin, and I have] all been at Millikin for so long, it’s a huge passion of ours; we bleed blue, right?” Schroeder said. “This is who we are. Millikin is a big family, and so we worked hard on making it work. Even if there are challenges, we know we can get through them and that we will get through them together.”
Curtin will begin onboarding Schroeder starting on May 1st, but until then, Curtin will be working as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Interim Provost.
“I’m fortunate to have Mary Black still here, and we were planning on starting onboarding right now anyway for me to take over in the middle of June; we just accelerated that when she became acting president,” Curtin said.
Although this is a stressful time, it is also a thrilling time for those who have new roles.
Curtin and Schroeder got to know each other when Curtin became the Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Schroeder was transitioning into the School of Biology and Environmental Studies director.
“[Shroeder’s] occupied different roles that have allowed her to see the bigger picture of the university, our initiatives, [our mission], and our focus, which is always the students,” Curtin said. “So she has a good sense of the bigger picture of our strategic initiatives of the university, as well as within the College of Arts and Sciences.”
Ever since Schroeder was a child, she has been curious about why things work the way they do. This curiosity has aided her in her academic career in physiology, but it has also helped her when working in higher education.
“As I’ve gotten more into higher education and been at a university setting, there’s a lot that is required to make a university work as well,” Schroeder said. “So it’s the ‘Why do we work as a university?’ What doesn’t work? Where are the things that go wrong, and how do we fix them, and how do we share what we do?”
This thought process has also helped her with her roles in assessment and accreditation, which is a process that ensures universities are meeting standards.
“My work in [accreditation] is really working across different parts of the university to make sure we have a good story to tell and that we have the documents to back up what we’re saying as well,” Schroeder said.
This wide range of work in her professional life has prepared her for the interim role as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
“Moving now into the Interim Dean role… I can really draw on my experiences and my knowledge base from the other things I’ve been involved with to hopefully help out the college even more,” Schroder said.
Her transition might be hectic, but Schroeder is ready to take it on.
“I’m just really excited and grateful for the opportunity, and my door will be open as much as it possibly can,” Schroeder said. “I want to be able to hear from people when they have questions or concerns and do whatever I can in my power to help out.”
