He stood there motionless, reached in his pocket and then grabbed out a small, white, piece of plastic that was about five inches long.
Howard Dewald, interim dean of Ohio University’s College of Arts and Sciences, held out the slide rule and then proceeded to ask his audience, “How many of you know what this is?”
Some faces appeared clueless; others recognized the item, smiled and reminisced about the past.
“Well, I know how to use this, and I probably will remember until the day I die,” Dewald said.
He then held up an iPad and asked his audience the same question, even though he knew the answer.
“I don’t have any crystal balls, magic eight balls or Ouija boards to predict the future, but as you can see, technology changes,” he said.
Dewald is one of three finalists for dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The others are Robert Frank, associate dean for research and graduate studies for the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati, and Beate Schmittmann, professor and chair of the physics department at Virginia Tech University.
The finalist will replace Ben Ogles, who left for a position as dean of the College of Family, Home and Social Sciences at Brigham Young University.
The effect of technology on the Colleges of Arts and Science was one of the many topics Dewald spoke about at an open forum yesterday. A group of about 30 faculty, staff and administrators gathered at the Clippinger Laboratory.
Dewald has been at OU for almost 25 years and previously served as associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. His responsibilities include graduate studies, research and space planning.
Greg Nadon, chair of geological sciences, attended the forum.
“Howard has the experience to know what works and doesn’t work,” Nadon said. “In a time of change, like what we are currently going through now, Howard can help the faculty make this transition because he has the experience to make it through.”
Dewald said his experience is what sets him apart from the other two candidates.
“Not only am I dedicated to the institution, but my history in the field shows that we can only move things forward,” Dewald said. “I don’t need to go back and relearn the operations of things around here.”
The College of Arts and Science is the largest academic unit at Ohio University. The college has 19 departments including biological sciences, humanities and social sciences. In 2009-2010, the college had 4,296 undergraduate majors and 892 graduate students, according to a university news release.
“I believe that the College of Arts and Sciences has been challenged recently to remain important nationally,” Dewald said. “We have to recruit more students and prepare them to go out and do many great things, analyze problems, gather data, find solutions and debate their knowledge.”
bc822010@ohiou.edu
