Kasper, Daniel. (2009). Honors College Needs a Dean

The National Collegiate Honors Council has put out a list of qualifications that it deems are necessary in an Honors College, such as the one at Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia. One of these qualifications is that the head of the Honors College should be a dean who reports directly to the president of the university. It is here, sadly, that SAU falls behind on the qualifications.

A dean, according to Merriam Webster Online, is simply “the head of a division, faculty, college, or school of a university.” But if that were the only qualification of a dean, the SAU Honors College would fulfill its requirements. However, Dr. Ed Kardas, who is the head of the college, is not a dean. He is a director. And his time is split between directing the Honors College and being a full Professor of Psychology: one quarter with the Honors College and the rest teaching. And Mr. David Wingfield, titled “Assistant to English and Foreign Languages/Honors College” by the university, also splits his time between two positions.

What does this mean for the Honors College? Not a great deal, yet. It is still early in the life of the College: we only opened our doors in 2004 after all. But in order for this Honors College to function as it should, a full time dean is necessary.
Not having a dean is a detriment to the students. It is more difficult to get the attention of someone juggling two positions. The head of the Honors College should make the Honors College their first priority, which is why the dean system was put into place. Deans can work whole-heartedly with their colleges in order to get things done. Further, it is unfair to ask someone to fulfill two positions in a university setting. The stress of one job is enough for one person; no one should be required to wear too many hats. As far as I can tell, Dr. Kardas and Mr. Wingfield are doing an excellent job with the Honors College. But I feel that if the university asks too much of them, they are going to burn out, and that would be an injury done to the university.

Having a dean is one of the most important things a fully functional Honors College should have. There is nothing as important as having someone in the arena for the college, so to speak. And unless SAU gets a full time dean soon, the Honors College will eventually suffer for it.