College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Interim no more

Michael Whiteford looks back on his selection as LAS dean and forward to the future of the college.
Michael Whiteford, who has served as interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences since last September, will fill the position permanently beginning April 1.

Whiteford has 32 years of experience at Iowa State as a professor of anthropology, department chair, and LAS associate dean for administration. He replaces Peter Rabideau, who accepted the position of provost and vice president for academic affairs at Mississippi State University.

"Mike Whiteford has maintained the highest level of excellence as a scholar, teacher and administrator in his long and distinguished career at Iowa State University," said President Gregory Geoffroy. "He is clearly an outstanding choice to lead the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Iowa State’s largest and broadest college."

Whiteford's appointment follows a six-month national search in which four finalists were identified. The other finalists included Shari Benstock, professor of English and women’s studies, University of Miami; Wolfgang Kliemann, associate vice provost for research and professor of mathematics, Iowa State; and Peter Sherwood, University Distinguished Professor and head of chemistry, Kansas State University.

Mark Engelbrecht, dean of the College of Design, headed the 23-member search committee.

"Dr. Whiteford is greatly respected as a leader, researcher and teacher," said Benjamin Allen, vice president for academic affairs and provost. "We are pleased that he will continue to serve Iowa State, as he has done so capably for more than three decades."

Shortly after his selection, Around LAS (ALAS), the internal faculty/staff newsletter of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, sat down with Whiteford to discussion his new position.

ALAS: After working as interim for a year what made you decide to apply for the position?
Whiteford: I have been here (Iowa State) for more than 30 years. It's my home and it's a very good institution. I'm proud to be part of working to keep Iowa State the excellent university that it is. We have the opportunity to make it even better in the future.

ALAS: Why do you think you were selected for the position?
Whiteford: I would like to think that people have trust and confidence in my abilities. Many people have known me for a number of years. I believe I have a pretty good understanding of all parts of this large, heterogeneous college.

ALAS: You have spent virtually your entire academic career at Iowa State. What do you like about the place?
Whiteford: The people. Over the years I have always appreciated what an outstanding group of individuals that we have on this campus and in this college. Since I started working in LAS I have had the opportunity to look over P&T (promotion tenure) documents, nominations for faculty and staff awards. Those materials are just a small indicator of the high quality of individuals that we have at all levels of the institution.

ALAS: What is the biggest opportunity that you see out there for LAS?
Whiteford: It may sound strange, but the budget challenges that we are facing now. On one hand these are very serious issues. But at the same time it provides us with opportunities to think about what we can be - things we wouldn't think about if we weren’t being pushed by fiscal realities.

Academic institutions are often stodgy places. Very little change takes place over the years and we rarely look seriously at what we’re doing. We typically like what we're doing and don't need to rethink things.

Now with the budgetary issues we're facing there is some urgency to look at how we do things, and we are starting to do this with careful deliberation. And we're trying to do that in a way that the faculty feel apart of the process.

ALAS: What is the biggest challenge LAS faces?
Whiteford: Faculty issues. We want to make good hires when we have openings. We need to retain our faculty. We also need to make sure that this is a place where people want to come to and want to stay.

ALAS: Budget issues have become a constant at Iowa State in recent years. What do you say to faculty and staff who are concerned about their programs?
Whiteford: On one hand we have reasons to be concerned. But I also think this is a time when we need to go beyond the wringing of hands and try to figure out what our strengths and core values are. I would tell people not to panic and work with us (LAS Dean's Office) to refocus the college's efforts.

ALAS: After the dust clears, how do you think LAS will look at the conclusion of the next round of budget cuts?
Whiteford: Next year not terribly different than right now. Hopefully we will be able to hold the number of faculty at the current levels and we’ll look forward to the not too distant future to reverse the trends of our slowly diminishing faculty ranks.

Several years down the road we may look different. Our budget advisory group that we have formed this semester will become more of an strategic planning and advisory group to help give the college guidance of where it is we should be going.

ALAS: This is a big and diverse college. You've had almost a year as the interim dean. How can one person direct such a college?
Whiteford: It requires good-shared leadership. I'm very pleased with the staff we have in the Dean's Office. We also have a very good group of department chairs. Those levels of leadership make managing an organization this large and diverse much easier.

I would be naïve to think that is an easy job even if we weren't wrestling with budgetary issues. But in the end we are all part of the same academic family. I think we have an advantage in the fact that the humanities, social sciences, the physical sciences, natural sciences and mathematical disciplines are all in one college.

ALAS: One of those areas you mentioned is the humanities. What type of role should the humanities play in a land-grant institution?
Whiteford: I think the humanities play an absolutely vital role in the life of this university. The role of the humanities at Iowa State University has been hotly debated for years and years and years. And I think as we work to continue to define that role we should look to see where the opportunities for the humanities in an institution of science and technology are - what distinguishes the humanities at Iowa State from say a school like the University of Iowa. There are really important opportunities for the humanities at this school in areas such as the environment and technology.

The humanities weave through everything we do on this campus. They have, and should continue to play an important role in the shaping of the landscape of Iowa State University.

ALAS: What do you like best about the job?
Whiteford: My involvement in this very diverse liberal arts environment. It's energizing, inspiring and stimulating all at the same time. I really believe that the heart of a good college education is the liberal arts component. We in LAS have a very special obligation to the University to be successful and to insure the success of the whole institution.

ALAS: What would you rather not do in your job?
Whiteford: I'm not excited about budget reductions. While presenting opportunities and developing change that people will embrace, it's not an easy process.

ALAS: Is there anything that you have delayed doing in the past year because you were an interim dean?
Whiteford: When (Provost) Ben Allen asked me to become interim dean, he told me "You are the dean. You have all the responsibilities and challenges of a permanent dean." I've taken that advice to heart. I have never strayed away from an issue, responsibility, opportunity or challenge because I was the interim dean.

ALAS: You are a social anthropologist and come from a family of anthropologists. Do you miss working with your academic discipline on a daily basis?
Whiteford: I miss parts of it. But I think the position of a dean is well suited to many of my anthropological skills. There is a strong social science aspect to understanding complex organizations and I think there are things from my academic background that will help me in this job.

ALAS: You have been an advocate for LAS International Programs.
Whiteford: Yes, that was one of my goals when I first came to the LAS office - to pull some things together. We've started to do just that. We have a sleeping giant here in LAS in regards to international activities.

One of the things we've started are the LAS Area Studies Programs. This has allowed faculty and staff with similar international interests to communicate with one another. And we've done this at a very modest cost.

ALAS: Do you have any specific goals for LAS?
Whiteford: There are several current initiatives such as the Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities and the Institute of Science and Society around campus that LAS is actively engaged in. I would like to see those succeed and possibly develop additional programs that would examine various issues in broad areas.

ALAS: Now that you are the permanent dean, what feels different?
Whiteford: Right now nothing. There is stuff on my desk and issues that still need to be addressed. I'm doing the same things today that I was doing 24 hours ago, two weeks ago and when I first came into this office.