Final candidate for CCFA dean interviews
After rescheduling his interview for his Communication and Fine Arts Dean twice, Steven Block told the search committee he's the kind of person who will find a way around obstacles.
Block is one of three candidates who went through the interview process as a candidate. His previous interviews were rescheduled because of weather. Block became the Department of Music Chair at the University of New Mexico in 1999 and said he applied for other dean positions because he's looking for a career change.
He said there would be a transition period and a new dean would have to gain trust before making major changes, but he wants to foster growth and bring more money to the college.
When he became chair of the Department of Music at UNM, he inherited a $300,000 deficit. A common complaint was the department did not have enough scholarship money, so he compiled their endowments, which weren't being used. Fixing the deficit involved the dean, provost and vice president of Business and Finance, he said.
They came up with a system of fees that would allow the department to get the funding from course fees. The department also developed online courses that bring in a stable amount of money each year. He said he also works on getting funds for the department in any other way he can.
Block said he does not ask the dean for money as the department chair and aims to be self-sufficient. He also listed transparency as important.
"Unless the information is for certain reasons confidential, whatever is being decided up here has to be brought down to the chairs and directors of the college," he said. "I think that's the most important role so that we're all, in some ways, not just advocates for our particular interests, but we're advocates for the whole university because we all depend on the success of the university itself."
He said most students have many interests and backgrounds and the college has to be able to work with them. At UNM, the Department of Music had multidisciplinary programs that combined arts with medicine, business and digital media.
"(Students) have all these things they want to do and that they're excited about and we have to be able to react to that," Block said. "I think the more collaboration, the more interdisciplinary programs, the better."
He said he's sympathetic towards individuals and involved in working with members of the academic college and university administrators.
"The faculty member speaks to the chair, the chair speaks to the dean, the dean speaks to the provost. Implied in that chain of command is that you work in the opposite way too," Block said, stating the dean shouldn't override a process that's in place.
"If you want to be respected and have things go through you as a dean, you have to respect the opposite," he said.
The two other candidates, Janet Hethorn and Interim Dean Shelly Hinck, had their forums in February. Hethorn, director of the Delaware Design Institute at the University of Delaware, emphasized collaboration and communicating effectively with the people who have money to give to the college.
Shelly Hinck, interim dean of CCFA at CMU, said the college should focus on collaboration and technology. She said the college needs to consider and think creatively about other sources for funding.
