Human enviromental studies chairwoman addresses qualifications to become CEHS associate dean at open forum
Megan Goodwin said one of the issues she would address as College of Education and Human Services associate dean is informing people about what the college does.
Goodwin, the human environmental studies chairwoman, said people might think they know what goes on in CEHS, but they don’t know everything.
“There are really remarkable things going on at the college that we need to make people better aware of,” she said.
Goodwin is one of two finalists to become the CEHS associate dean, and she held an open forum Monday morning to address her qualifications. Goodwin has been at Central Michigan University for more than 25 years. She started as a faculty member in human environmental studies, and has been the chair of the department since 2010.
The CEHS associate dean will be responsible for providing support to the dean, Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson, on issues including accreditation, curriculum, budgeting, planning and faculty development.
Goodwin said CMU has changed a great deal in the time she has worked at the university, especially the expectations for colleges and departments. She said these changes for higher education are largely the result of forces outside of CMU, such as technological advances and new expectations from employers.
“We’re being asked to do more, and we’re being asked to do it quickly,” she said. “Technology has become a really important factor in the kinds of work we do, and how we do that work.”
Goodwin said she has worked with off-campus programs and she understands the challenges that on-campus departments face to deliver off-campus courses.
“I think that perspective has made me a better department chair,” she said.
Goodwin said one thing that hasn’t changed in her time at CMU is that resources are limited. She said no one ever has enough of the resources they want, but that can’t be the factor CEHS uses to determine whether or not to pursue an idea.
“I’ve seen too many good ideas stop, especially at the faculty level, because they say, ‘Oh, we’ll never get the resources for that,’” she said.
Goodwin said as department chair she already knows a lot of people within the college, and as associate dean she would be committed to finding out what people are doing within the college and making connections across departments.
One challenge as associate dean will be staying impartial when distributing resources, Goodwin said.
“It’s not always about equal distribution of resources, it’s about fair distribution of resources,” she said.
Goodwin concluded by thanking those who had attended the forum, and said she does not think there will be a negative outcome if either finalist is chosen.
“Whatever decision is made, the college is going to do just fine,” she said.
Finalist Elizabeth Kirby, educational leadership chair, has an open forum at 10 a.m. Thursday in EHS 427.
