The Omnibus

Issue date: 3/17/10 Section: News

One of the perks of becoming dean is a spacious office with several windows. The only thing lacking when Dr. Jeff Waters was named permanent dean of the Geneva Casebolt College of Music, Arts, and Letters Feb. 23 was a replacement name plate for the one which read "Jeff Waters - Acting Dean."
Waters said his nameplate and Dr. Martha Hicks' nameplate will be replaced soon as the term "acting" has also been removed from Hicks' title of music department chair.
After consulting individually with music faculty, Waters announced yesterday that Hicks will be the permanent chair of the music department.
"[I will] focus on reporting, annual reviews, accreditation, representing SBU at meetings," said Hicks. "Recruiting is a large part of it for all faculty. And I'll plan for the future and work on the budget."
Although these tasks will consume a great deal of time, Hicks will still be able to teach her church music classes.
Hicks believes the best part about her new position will be the opportunity to interact with students even more.
Hicks' appointment as chair is the last move in a series of personnel changes. At the end of August Dr. Bill Brown moved from being the dean to the position of acting provost, Waters moved from chair of the music department to acting dean and Hicks became acting chair of the music department.
After a few months Brown decided to apply for the provost position and was hired at the beginning of this semester after going through the interview process.
"We knew he [Brown] wasn't coming back," said Waters. "Here I am acting dean, I sort of liked it and it was working. I thought, 'Let's go for it.'
"I went through the complete application process. I met with the search committee, I met with the college faculty, I met with the deans, I met with the provost and I met with the president," Waters said.
As acting dean, Waters did not make many changes.
Now that he is the permanent dean he plans to make a smooth transition by keeping the things that work and making minor adjustments as needed.
"As I came in as acting dean, of course, the agenda was [to] keep things going through this period and see where it goes. I don't really have grand plans," Waters said. "Of course, any transition needs to preserve a little of the same-or a lot of the same-to make it smooth. So right now, I'm in the preservation stage."
His main goal is to continue to give back to the community by showing off the talent at SBU through events such as concerts, plays, and art exhibits for the public to enjoy for free or very cheap. Waters cited the recent production of "Godspell" as an example.
Along with the new position come new responsibilities and changes. Waters now spends about half of his time teaching while the other half is spent fulfilling his duties as dean.
Among his duties are Thursday morning meetings with the other deans, provost, vice president for enrollment management and president for the faculty senate.
"I like the new interaction with different people. I enjoy being there to hear all of these perspectives and opinions and intelligent thoughts," Waters said.
While changes in the college may be gradual, Waters' job has changed significantly. His responsibilities now include the departments of language and literature, visual arts and communication arts in addition to music. Even the location of these departments presents an issue.
"That physical separation is a challenge, so I think I'm going to have to be proactive with the non music [departments]," Waters said.

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