Northern campus meets two dean contenders
Zach White
As a part of Montana State University-Northern’s continued search for a new dean of the College of Education, Arts and Sciences and Nursing, the two latest candidates approved by the Search Committee met with faculty, students and administrators last Friday. 
Each had open meeting sessions in Hensler Auditorium, the first in the morning and the next a few hours later. 
The two come from very different backgrounds and were met with very different receptions.
***Susan Muller
Susan Muller had the first meeting, attended by a few faculty and about 20 students. 
She told the group about her rise from public school teacher, through college softball coach to being the current chair of the Department of Health and Sport Sciences at Salisbury University, a public college in Maryland with more than 8,000 students. 
Muller placed particular emphasis on her record in creating and developing new programs in her department, including an exercise major and a master's degree in applied health physiology. 
“I’m the kind of person that likes to figure out what we need, to start the paperwork and get things going, ” Muller said. 
Aside from starting programs, making sure those programs receive the necessary accreditation and funding is another skill Muller, who serves on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Board of Program Reviewers, highlighted. 
“The challenge is finding a funding agency that wants to do what you want to do, ” Muller said. 
A few students asked her feelings on Havre’s location, on which Muller commented “there’s remote and then there’s remote. And this is remote. ” 
Over all, Muller said, she feels that this is the direction she wants to take her career and is ready for the opportunity. 
“I want to become an academic dean, ” Muller said. “I’ve done what I wanted to there (at Salisbury). I’m ready to go to the next step. ”
***Tim Rees
When Tim Rees’ session came on Friday afternoon, no students attended, though the same faculty members showed up. 
Communications professor Mark Seiffert attributed the empty room to the meeting being scheduled at 1:30 p. m. on the Friday before spring break. 
Rees’ career began with nearly 30 years of corporate training with Hewlett-Packard before spending the past decade at the University of Phoenix and Aims Community College in Loveland, Colo. He explained how his experience is relevant, yet untraditional. 
“Although I’ve been in education for a long time, it’s been a little different from most people, ” Rees said. 
There was some discussion between Rees and Seiffert about how long it had been since Rees had been involved in liberal arts education, and the differences between training and education. 
Rees admitted that he does not have the most education experience, but believed he had other skills that would be beneficial in the dean’s position. 
“I don’t feel my expertise is in education necessarily, although I enjoy it, ” Rees said. “My expertise is more in managing large complicated systems. ” 
When asked about his work with unions, as he would have to do with the local faculty union, he cited work with a “pseudo-union” at the University of Phoenix, and dealing with construction unions in Asia. 
Seiffert said he worried about how Rees’ background would affect his entry into a public four-year institution. 
“We’re worried that since you’ve come from the top down, you are entering a new culture with a lot of new traps, ” Seiffert said. 
Rees told the three faculty in attendance that he would do everything he could to meet the needs of the variety of diverse groups in the college, to help them do what they wanted to do. 
He also said he would to help MSU-N “establish better relationships with businesses in the community, across the country and maybe even internationally. ” 
“I’m really big into project management. ”

As a part of Montana State University-Northern’s continued search for a new dean of the College of Education, Arts and Sciences and Nursing, the two latest candidates approved by the Search Committee met with faculty, students and administrators last Friday. 

Each had open meeting sessions in Hensler Auditorium, the first in the morning and the next a few hours later. 

The two come from very different backgrounds and were met with very different receptions.

Susan Muller

 

Watch a short question and answer video with Susan Muller on YouTube.

Susan Muller had the first meeting, attended by a few faculty and about 20 students. 

 

She told the group about her rise from public school teacher, through college softball coach to being the current chair of the Department of Health and Sport Sciences at Salisbury University, a public college in Maryland with more than 8,000 students. 

Muller placed particular emphasis on her record in creating and developing new programs in her department, including an exercise major and a master's degree in applied health physiology. 

“I’m the kind of person that likes to figure out what we need, to start the paperwork and get things going, ” Muller said. 

Aside from starting programs, making sure those programs receive the necessary accreditation and funding is another skill Muller, who serves on the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Board of Program Reviewers, highlighted. 

“The challenge is finding a funding agency that wants to do what you want to do,” Muller said. 

A few students asked her feelings on Havre’s location, on which Muller commented “there’s remote and then there’s remote. And this is remote. ” 

Over all, Muller said, she feels that this is the direction she wants to take her career and is ready for the opportunity. 

“I want to become an academic dean, ” Muller said. “I’ve done what I wanted to there (at Salisbury). I’m ready to go to the next step. ”

Tim Rees

 

Watch a short question and answer video with Tim Rees on YouTube.

When Tim Rees’ session came on Friday afternoon, no students attended, though the same faculty members showed up. 

Communications professor Mark Seiffert attributed the empty room to the meeting being scheduled at 1:30 p. m. on the Friday before spring break. 

Rees’ career began with nearly 30 years of corporate training with Hewlett-Packard before spending the past decade at the University of Phoenix and Aims Community College in Loveland, Colo. He explained how his experience is relevant, yet untraditional. 

“Although I’ve been in education for a long time, it’s been a little different from most people, ” Rees said. 

There was some discussion between Rees and Seiffert about how long it had been since Rees had been involved in liberal arts education, and the differences between training and education. 

Rees admitted that he does not have the most education experience, but believed he had other skills that would be beneficial in the dean’s position. 

“I don’t feel my expertise is in education necessarily, although I enjoy it, ” Rees said. “My expertise is more in managing large complicated systems. ” 

When asked about his work with unions, as he would have to do with the local faculty union, he cited work with a “pseudo-union” at the University of Phoenix, and dealing with construction unions in Asia. 

Seiffert said he worried about how Rees’ background would affect his entry into a public four-year institution. 

“We’re worried that since you’ve come from the top down, you are entering a new culture with a lot of new traps, ” Seiffert said. 

Rees told the three faculty in attendance that he would do everything he could to meet the needs of the variety of diverse groups in the college, to help them do what they wanted to do. 

He also said he would to help MSU-N “establish better relationships with businesses in the community, across the country and maybe even internationally.” 

“I’m really big into project management. ”