College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Making a move

Donna Kienzler to spend year as administrative intern in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Donna Kienzler is no stranger to academic administration.

She has spent the past three years as an assistant dean in the Graduate College and hopes to use that experience in her new position in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

"I loved my time in the Graduate College," said the associate professor of English. "But if I had the chance to design another dream job, this would be it.

"I like administration, particularly the type of issues that I will be working with here."

Starting in mid-August Kienzler began her new dream job as intern assistant dean in LAS. The position is part of a program instituted by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.

The program's goals are to provide senior faculty and staff with the opportunity to broaden their understanding of and experience in higher education administration and to diversify the administrative leadership on campus.

The position is a nine-month, half-time job. Kienzler will also work with the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) and she feels her past administrative experience in the Graduate College will come in handy in her new job.

In LAS Kienzler will specifically be working with the college review of the National Survey of Student Engagement findings, working on LAS' review of general education, taking a lead role in the LAS assessment program, and assisting in the self-study for the upcoming North Central Accreditation (NCA) review.

"Donna is very knowledgeable about all of these things and we're very pleased to be able to use her expertise," said Michael Whiteford, LAS dean.

Some of Kienzler's LAS duties will overlap her CELT duties. Assessment is one such area.

"If outcomes assessment is done right, it should keep Iowa State on the cutting edge for a long time," she said. "I think that once people see that it (assessment) helps them in the long run, they will start to see its value.

"Assessment is a wonderful tool for improving ISU, and our goal is to bring students, faculty and administrators into the process."

Kienzler will also continue to direct the Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program through the CELT office. It's a program she first started in the Graduate College soon after she moved to that office.

The PFF program supplements departmental graduate student and post-doc preparation by offering new teaching, mentoring and learning possibilities. These possibilities give Ph.D. students, master’s students and post-docs further credentialing for a competitive academic job market.

PFF offers a series of panels and workshops from professors throughout campus.

It's also a program that Kienzler holds near and dear to her heart.

"What's been so exciting is that people are coming to these sessions and sharing their passion and talents for their jobs," she said. "It speaks volumes about the dynamic, wonderful faculty we have here at Iowa State."