The article “LAS, JCFA majors have worst job outlook at Butler” in The Collegian of Feb. 8 is highly misleading and inaccurate. The article maintains that “biology, history, philosophy, psychology and dance majors had the worst outlook last year for being employed within one year of graduating from Butler, according to institutional data.”

The data provided in the bar graph of the article shows, for example, that fewer than 40 percent of the graduating biology majors, zero percent of the graduating philosophy/religion majors, and fewer than 40 percent of the graduating psychology majors in 2010 found employment.

This looks grim indeed, say, as compared to marketing and management students who had an employment rate of over 80 percent within one year of graduating until one realizes that 52 percent of the graduating biology majors immediately continued with graduate or professional education, as did 100 percent of the graduating philosophy/religion majors and 67 percent of the graduating psychology majors.

Regrettably, the article fails to mention that the employment rates in these majors are so low because many of their students immediately opt for continued education.

What ultimately counts is the placement rate (the sum of the employment rate and the graduate/professional education rate) within one year of graduation and this rate is above 90 percent for most majors discussed in the article.

The article showcases the Office of Internship and Career Services and discusses how this office can help LAS and JCFA majors find jobs.

No doubt, the intention of the article is to provide encouragement for these majors, but it may end up doing the very opposite by presenting a misleading placement profile.

-Harry van der Linden,
professor of philosophy

Class of 2012 students who aren’t considering advanced degrees will find this May that some advanced studies from Butler University translate into a job faster than others.

Biology, history, philosophy, psychology and dance majors had the worst outlook last year for being employed within one year of graduating from Butler, according to institutional data.

Students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Jordan College of Fine Arts may have a harder time than students in other colleges when facing the reality of filling out job applications, said Julie Schrader, manager of employer development in the office of Internship and Career Services.

“In some of the LAS majors, a lot of students have difficulty figuring out how they’re going to translate that back down into a job,” Schrader said.

Matthew Wright is a May 2011 Butler graduate with a degree in English. He is still looking for permanent, full-time employment. He said he thinks LAS majors might have a harder time getting employment because of how broad their disciplines are.

“There’s not one avenue connecting LAS majors to a job after they finish their education,” Wright said. “It’s probably a little more complicated, but we are all capable of finding a job.”

In broad disciplines, there has been some difficulty for career counselors to imagine job or career paths for graduates who solicit their help, but no major is impossible, Schrader said.

“Sometimes we have to get a little creative about classes they’ve taken and experiences they’ve had and how they can translate that into a full-time job,” Schrader said.

The office of Internship and Career Services is considering putting on an event this spring geared toward helping LAS majors identify jobs they’re interested in, Schrader said, but there are no specific plans yet.

Despite the apparent advantage of majors like computer science and accounting, which had a  100 percent job outlook, the skills obtained from a major in the liberal arts are desirable in a new hire, said Wright, who is temporarily working for Butler’s Center for Academic Technology.

“Writing and communication abilities are actually really important in pretty much every job,” Wright said.

To improve the chances of being prepared for a job after college, Schrader said she thinks students in all six academic colleges should use the resources available in the office of Internship and Career Services.

Students with majors in colleges like LAS without their own career offices have an even greater need to take advantages of the services, Schrader said.

“In the College of Business, they’ve got it squared away,” Schrader said. “But there are some departments, such as in LAS or JCFA, that just don’t have those resources.”

Schrader said her office is there to supplement those departments as needed.

“We think we have a pretty good relationship with LAS departments, but we’re always looking to strengthen those,” Schrader said. “Our goal is just to help all those departments and students in whatever they need.”

Students in the COB, whose programs boasted an average 96 percent job placement rate, attract employers because they come out of college with two internship experiences under their belts, said Mary Ellen Wolfsie, director of career development and student services for the COB.

“That gives them some solid real-world experiences,” Wolfsie said. “It’s not unusual for some internships to turn into a full-time job. That’s a big piece of it.”

Wolfsie said that COB’s office has the same services as Internship and Career Services but that COB students don’t have to put in as much effort to take advantage of them because of the office’s relationship with the academic programs.

“The resources are there,” Wolfsie said, “but the difference is that in other colleges, students may have to take the initiative to take advantage of those resources.”

Students who choose to visit the office of Internship and Career Services may solicit the office’s help with trying to find an internship after graduation, going over a résumé or simply talking about career path options.

“We dig into really where their passion lies,” Schrader said, “and what they’re really good at.”

Editor’s Note: Stavitsky has since removed his name from consideration because he accepted another offer. Open sessions with Stavitsky are canceled.

College of Communication dean candidates begin arriving on campus next week for open sessions. When they do, they will find a university that has a busy community of existing deans.

They’re teaching courses, working on projects in their colleges, building relationships outside of the university and serving together as members of a group that is responsible for advising Butler University’s provost on how to allocate a near-$40 million academic budget.

“We look for opportunities to work together and help each other solve problems,” COB Dean Chuck Williams said. “It’s something that you can do at an institution the size of Butler.”

Most Tuesday afternoons, they can be found conferring together on the Provost Advisory Council, which consists of the deans from each of Butler’s six academic colleges, the provost and two associate provosts.

Preparing for a new dean

The deans might be gearing up to welcome a new colleague next year, but they said they’ve all adjusted well to transitions in their group.

“The group changes, but that doesn’t mean that the whole group isn’t moving forward,” COPHS Dean Mary Andritz said. “It’s just different, not necessarily bad.”

Since the arrival of provost and vice president for academic affairs Jamie Comstock, deans in JCFA and LAS have been replaced and CCOM was formed—all of which have required dean searches.

In the interim, members of the colleges stepped in to fill the void, and Comstock said the interim members all have taken their role on the PAC seriously.

“As we were going through these transitions, we didn’t have strangers,” Comstock said. “We had people who we knew and trusted, who knew and trusted us.”

LAS Dean Jay Howard said now that his college has finished the leadership transition, he wants to stick around and slow down the turnover of Butler’s leadership.

“What the college needs right now is stability,” Howard said.

Working dynamic

Since the PAC started working together, Comstock said the group has never taken a vote, which she said speaks to its collaborative nature.

“That does not mean that we compromise, that we go along to get along,” Comstock said. “That means that we have the tough conversations that are required. We’re a very progressive group.”

Comstock said the members of the PAC work well together because of how much time they spend as a group.

“Whenever you invest four hours a week with a group of people, and you’re dealing with issues that are really at the heart and essence of a Butler University education, you get to know people really well,” Comstock said.

The deans said they all work well together and help new members of the PAC adjust to their working environment.

“I deeply admire every one of my colleagues,” COE Dean Ena Shelley said.

Andritz said part of the PAC’s summer retreat was spent helping JCFA Dean Ronald Caltabiano adjust to the university. Caltabiano couldn’t be reached for comment.

“I think everybody feels a sense of trying to help the new members get acclimated as quickly as possible,” Andritz said.

Howard said the relationship between all the deans is very collaborative and cooperative.

All of the deans said being able to get along with their colleagues makes their jobs much easier. It creates a support group where they can express any obstacles which they may need help getting over.

“The provost has done a great job creating camaraderie,” CCOM Interim Dean William Neher said.

Collaborative allocation

The entire academic division budget goes through the PAC, as well as incremental requests, which are additions to the operating budget, and one-time capital requests.

Comstock said resource allocation decisions are made collaboratively.

“It’s not Jamie’s list,” Comstock said. “It’s our list. We all support the decision that the group has made. If we have six requests and can only fund two of them, I can make that decision by myself. But I’ll make a better decision if we talk it out.”

When she first stepped into her role as a dean at Butler, Andritz said she was worried about possibly needing to compete with other deans for limited resources. But she hasn’t found that to be the case.
“We’re not a group of people that’s only looking at representing our own college,” Andritz said. “I’ve been so pleased that when there’s decisions about how to use limited resources, that there really is a discussion.”

When requests come to the PAC, the group gives people a chance to advocate for a request, then decides the priority of each request and sends the top five to the budget committee.

Comstock said priorities change each year and that the group considers how time sensitive a request is and whether there is another source of funds for it.

“One year, JCFA gets a roof, and the next year it’s LAS and COE,” Comstock said. “This year, it’s growing the space for students with disabilities.”

On top of the academic division budget, the PAC discusses academic strategic initiatives for the university, as well as the core curriculum, advising practices and faculty replacement, tenure and promotion.

It’s a diverse mix of work, Comstock said.

Group adjustments

Comstock said the nature of the group’s work has changed since members started working together when she was hired.

“We were trying to make sure that nothing got lost in the transition,” she said. “Now we’ve gotten to the point where we’re able to work more on strategic initiatives as opposed to house cleaning.”

Andritz said the group members also share valuable information that helps each of them understand the university’s challenges.

“It often excitingly leads to opportunities for us to collaborate on issues that are on the table,” Andritz said.

Under previous Butler provosts, the group was called the Council of Deans.

Andritz attributed the PAC’s name change to the fact that the two associate provosts—Laura Behling and Mary Ramsbottom Macmanus— also are members of the group.

“We didn’t want them to feel like second-class citizens,” Andritz said.

A dean’s life

The deans don’t just work on the PAC and perform administrative leadership duties. They’re also responsible for teaching courses, unlike at other institutions.

“Some people may think that a dean is far removed from what is happening in teaching and learning,” Shelley said. “I do teach on a regular basis, which is not typical in other institutions.”

There is no such thing as a “typical” day for a dean.

Howard said that part of the challenge is having to give up control of his entire calendar to devote to meetings, whether they are one-on-one or committee meetings.

“It’s easy to lose track, so it’s important to stay organized,” he said. “It’s easy for things to fall through the cracks.”

For Shelley, her days begin early with attending meetings, answering emails and focusing on staff, faculty and students in her college.

She points out that a dean must be flexible and willing to do everything as needed.

“I am a servant to students, faculty, the university and my profession,” Shelley said.

CCom dean search

The search has already begun, and the new CCOM dean will start June 1, 2012.

Howard is chair of the search committee that eventually will make a recommendation for hire to the provost and president.

“It makes sense to have a dean chair the search committee because we know the job, the challenges, the opportunities,” Williams said.

Neher cannot be involved in the dean search but said he does know that the new dean will be very strong.

Along with getting a new dean, CCOM will also be replacing other faculty as some members retire.

“There will be a one-third turnover with retirements and filling some positions that aren’t filled yet, which will be good for the new dean,” Neher said.

Members of the search committee will welcome the three finalists starting next week. They will hold open sessions for the Butler community to ask questions, voice concerns and get to know them.

The candidates are Alan Stavitsky, Glenda Balas and Gary Edgerton.

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Jay Howard is working with the American Sociological Association and Indiana University to advocate for better teaching in the classroom.

Howard was recently named co-editor of Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology, an online resource for sociology teachers.

“It’s a fun opportunity,” Howard said. “It’s a way of taking your expertise as a faculty member and as a teacher and sharing it beyond your own classroom.”

TRAILS will create a library of teaching resources available to high school and college sociology teachers to use in the classroom. The library will have PowerPoint presentations, sample syllabi and sample paper ideas.

Howard said he is excited to be working with TRAILS because it will allow him to reach and educate a broader spectrum of people interested in sociology.

He will work as part of a team of three to edit a section of the library, which Howard says will enhance their end product’s value.

“We felt that having a team of three gives each of these materials a greater sense of peer review,” Howard said. “People can say my teaching materials have been peer reviewed by national experts which helps them get credit for what they’re teaching.”

Howard has been a member of the American Sociological Association for 18 years and has been very involved with the efforts related to the teaching movement.

Aside from TRAILS, Howard is also working with Indiana University’s Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching to spread his knowledge and passion for quality teaching.

FACET is an organization within Indiana University that serves as an award after members go through an extensive review process. Howard was admitted in 1997.

“Admittance doesn’t stop with just getting an award,” Howard said. “We’re expected to be engaged on their local IU campus as well as nationally to help facilitate more effective teaching and learning.”

Howard said he has been involved with IU’s “Future Faculty Teaching Fellow Summer Institute,” where he facilitated a weekend-long development workshop that prepared the students before they began teaching. Howard will speak at FACET’s annual conference, delivering a speech about student participation in the classroom.

“When students are engaged in discussion and actively participate, they learn more and they develop their critical thinking skills,” Howard said. “Yet, there is a ‘norm’ that you typically see in the classroom where five students do 90 percent of the participating.”

Howard said he feels very privileged that he gets to speak at the FACET conference to discuss the importance of good teaching.

“I’m very fortunate to be in a discipline where people value teaching as well as scholarship.” Howard said. “FACET places value in teaching and makes sure we reward people for doing good teaching, because learning is what higher education should be about.”

Welcome week arrived and Butler’s campus teemed with first year students. But they were not the only ones on campus who were experiencing new roles at Butler.

After a year of searching for new deans, both the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) and the Jordan College of Fine Arts (JCFA) are transitioning this year after filling both of those positions.

Dean Jay Howard became the new dean of LAS as of June 1, 2010 after “stumbling across the job advertisement on the Butler website the day before applications were due,” he said.

Howard received a bachelor’s degree in sociology at Indiana University South Bend. He then went on to earn both a Master’s Degree and a Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Notre Dame. During his schooling, he specialized in different areas of sociology including sociology of religion, sociology of culture and popular culture, sociological theory and sociology of work.

Prior to starting work at Butler, Dean Howard worked at Indiana University Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC) for 18 years, working his way up from assistant to full professor of sociology. He also authored 50 publications of various types. Howard also found himself holding a variety of administrative positions, including assistant dean for budget and planning and head of the division.

Howard has many projects planned for his first year at Butler and has many new ideas to implement for LAS.

“I want to raise the profile of LAS.  There are many outstanding faculty, students and programs in LAS which perhaps have not been given their due recognition,” Howard said. “We want each of our departments to stand out from departments at our peer institutions.”

As a parent of Butler senior theatre major Amalia Howard, Howard became attracted to Butler’s deliverance “on its promise of a high quality, challenging education with lots of opportunities for students that extend beyond the classroom” he said.

Michelle Jarvis was appointed to be the interim dean of JCFA, also as of June 1.

Dean Jarvis has been a part of the Butler community for many years. She graduated from Butler twice, the first time with an undergraduate degree in dance and the second time with a graduate degree in dance.  Ten years after graduating from Butler, Jarvis returned to Butler as a professor.

“[Prior to becoming interim dean] I was the associate dean of JCFA and before that, I was the chair of the dance department here,” Jarvis said.

Jarvis will serve as an interim dean for the 2010-2011 school year only. The position of interim dean means that her current contract is only a year long.

However, she is still excited about the many new changes to come.

Jarvis said her major goals for the year will be to bring together the faculty to capitalize on exposure of the NCAA tournament last year to bring in more perspective students to the college, prepare for the first students studying for their master of fine arts in dance and to plan for the new 450-seat recital hall, which is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

“I am very excited about the new performance hall,” Jarvis said. “We have been meeting all summer and are getting closer to finalizing plans for the building. We are all looking forward to it.”

Jarvis also said she is excited for the JCFA’s incoming class. She said she was thrilled to meet with them as a college and to see that, “They are so enthusiastic and so ready to be contributors to the university.”

Jarvis also intends to focus more this year, “not only towards teaching and learning,” she said, “but on [continuing] to train students well in their disciplines and to be thinking of their future careers.”

Jarvis is anticipating a successful and exciting year in JCFA.

“We need to give students the opportunity to create, be it right or wrong,” Jarvis said. “We need to be on the cutting edge.”