Tag Archives: Dean

Graduating Student Stories- A Dean with a Degree

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Graduate Student Stories- Program: Community College Leadership

Bruce Hattendorf’s final years of school have been challenging, but his hard work and determination has paid off and he is graduating from the Community College Leadership (CCL) program this year. Hattendorf began his work in the education field as a tenured English professor before being asked to step into a role as an Associate Dean of Instruction. “I had no administrative experience or training at the time”, says Hattendorf, “so I enrolled in the CCL program to develop professionally and also to get a degree that would allow me to advance my administrative career in the future.”

Hattendorf was attracted to the OSU program saying, “I am very committed to the community college mission and OSU had one of the few higher education leadership programs that focused specifically on my area of interest.” He also found at “doing the program and learning a new job that was directly related to the program simultaneously, was a great way to learn.”

As a distance student, Hattendorf says that the most valuable experience was “the cohort interaction, both at Silver Falls and online [because] the cohort provided great friendships and terrific professional contacts.”

While in the program, one of the challenges was being able to “balance work, school, and life” because “it meant putting a lot of my personal life on hold – or at least scheduling things more carefully.” Hattendorf was very busy due to “working full time and [becoming] a full Dean at that point”, and yet his determination pressed on­—listening to advice from a former OSU student who had completed the same program, “to take three weeks off at Christmas and lock [himself] in a room and write”, Hattendorf did just that, using vacation time during school breaks to get the work done.

After graduation, Hattendorf plans to continue his current job as Dean for Arts and Sciences at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Washington and with the pressure of his dissertation lifted, he hopes to have more time to enjoy hiking and traveling with his wife and dogs, as well as being more involved in community arts and practicing his creative writing again. Hattendorf is optimistic about the education field, saying that “the thing about education, whether it’s in the classroom or at the administrative level, is that we can always find ways to get better at what we do, and I find that exciting and engaging.”

A Message from the Dean

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Larry Flick– A Message from the Dean

“I am retiring from OSU after 23 years. My decision to retire is mostly personal in that my wife retired last July after 46 years as a high school teacher. It immediately became apparent that I too was ready for our next chapter.  But my decision to retire comes at good time for the college. Eight years ago, the Department of Science and Mathematics Education merged with the College of Education and 4H moved to the College of Public Health and Human Sciences. It was a time of major changes across the entire campus. Now nearly a decade later, the college is very different from what it was. I see this as a good time for college faculty and staff to take stock of their significant accomplishments and look to what they want the college to be in the next decade.

Most immediately, my wife and I will be traveling at times other than summer. We have always enjoyed trips that involve view wildlife, hiking and interacting with the local culture. In July, we’ll be on the Bernese-Oberland Traverse in the Alps. September will be Tuscany followed by joining Global Volunteers in Siedice, Poland working with middle school children in using English while doing science activities. In December, we will be in a boat exploring the coast of Costa Rica and Panama and making a canal transit.” –Larry Flick

—- As we say our farewells, the College would also like to add that we are searching for a new Dean to follow in Larry’s footsteps.

We are seeking a collaborative, inspiring, and entrepreneurial leader to serve as the Dean of Oregon State University’s College of Education. The Dean will work closely with faculty and staff to achieve its vision to be an international leader in research and in the preparation of researchers, scholars, learning leaders, teachers, and counselors who make a difference by promoting innovation, social justice, and lifelong learning and thereby preparing citizens who are socially empowered, reflective, innovative, and caring members of increasingly diverse communities and the world. Learn more about the position.