Provost candidate Bonnie Irwin met with faculty, students and community members in the Memorial Union Ballroom Tuesday afternoon.
In her opening speech, Irwin spoke briefly of her youth and past experiences. She is the current dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at Eastern Illinois University, just miles away from her hometown Chicago.
Irwin said she lived much of her life in California, where she went on to study abroad twice during her high school years in Costa Rica and Brazil and studied Arabic and Persian. Though Irwin originally planned to earn an MBA, she was convinced otherwise and started on the path that brought her to EIU.
“I very much want to come here (Emporia) because I think this is a place of great opportunity,” Irwin said. “But I won’t be absolutely devastated if I have to stay put.”
Irwin said ESU reminds her of the EIU environment, as they are both in small towns.
“One of the things that really attracts me to ESU is your size,” Irwin said, “and I’m hearing over and over again how much faculty care about students. It’s a place where you can really make a difference.”
At EIU, Irwin laid the groundwork for what is called a service-learning program. She said the program is all about having students do community service that is relevant to their area of study. It was not required, but Irwin said she did a great deal of work getting faculty connected with relevant community service organizations.
“You are bringing what you learn in class to someone in the community. You’re applying your knowledge,” Irwin said. “But that also makes you a way better student in the classroom because you can bring a different perspective.”
Stuart Sneath, junior sociology major and Ass
ociated Student Government vice president, said that although ESU does have Community Hornets, it has yet to have something like the service-learning program.
“There’s nothing like where you go out and apply your knowledge, or using people within their majors and doing community service relating to their majors,” Sneath said. “Stuff like that makes you think, ‘Of course, why weren’t we doing this before?’”
Brooke Schmidt, senior Spanish major and ASG president, said she appreciated not only Irwin’s ideas, but also the way she presented them.
“She is engaging with any committee she speaks with, and I think highly of her. I like her as a candidate for provost,” Schmidt said.
Today, Gersham Nelson, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Central Missouri, will be at an open forum at 4 p.m. in the Skyline Room of the Memorial Union.
Nelson met with members of the faculty and community yesterday at the Emporia Arts Center. He said he was impressed by the town’s relationship with the university.
“I have encountered a number of individuals that have demonstrated such a strong commitment to the students and the academic mission that it makes me feel at home,” Nelson said.
