Rushing leaves GCSU after nine years

    Dean Beth Rushing of the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences will be leaving GCSU after spending a total of nine years here as assistant dean, then as the dean. 
     Dr. Rushing will be the vice chancellor and vice provost at the University of Washington at Tacoma, directly South of Seattle.
     According to Rushing herself, she will be in charge of Academic affairs of all programs on campus. 
     “[I will be] running the academic component, some schools call it chief academic officer,” Rushing said. 
     UW-Tacoma has similar programs as this school.
     “She will be responsible for overall academic leadership of the institution,” President Dorothy Leland said.
     However, most deans on campus do not see students as much as faculty does, according to Rushing.
     “Deans don’t see students that much,”  Leland said. “They’re not as close to students as faculty in the classroom.”
     On the contrary, according to Dr. Anne Gormly, Vice President and Dean of Faculties, Rushing is an exception to this rule.
     “Dean Rushing has been active in teaching herself.  She’s had quite a bit of involvement with students….She taught a study abroad,” Gormly said.
     Rushing also started the Student Advisory Council for her school, which brought in students from every program in her school after Gormly told all deans she wanted feedback from the students in each program.
     While here, Rushing’s position as dean of the school consisted of assisting with programming, directing graduate programs and, according to Gormly, consists of the     “President’s Cabinet.”  Rushing has also done a little bit of research while at GCSU, with a colleague from another university. 
     Gormly also stated that Rushing was involved in the business aspects of her college as well.  “The School of Liberal Arts & Sciences has the lion’s share for the core, then the lion’s share of the budget….Dean Rushing was active in raising money for the piano for the music department,” Gormly said.
     In addition, the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences has made significant progress while the Dean in charge:  The school has 3,000 students, half the university’s population, while also doubling the number of majors (of which the three most popular are psychology, biology and mass communication).  Meanwhile, the faculty has increased to over 160 full-time members, more than half the university’s faculty and the graduate programs have “shifted more responsibility for assistantships,” according to Rushing.
     Gormly added, that when the university asked for an increase in funding from the Board of Regents in 2001, GCSU officials decided to increase the number of faculty while placing undeclared majors into the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, since it has the majority of core courses all students must take.  The Deans of the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences and the Dean of Education share responsibility of the education majors, as they are also planning to teach mainly in liberal arts-related fields.
     Rushing will be teaching a Maymester class in the Bahamas, before starting the long drive to Washington state.  After that point, Dr. Mike Digby, current chair of the Department of Government & Sociology will serve as the interim dean of the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences.
     A national search will be conducted in the meantime.  Gormly stated that the dean they will be looking for must be someone who can work with faculty across the board in the School of Liberal Arts & Sciences, since there are so many programs, have good programming skills, be an excellent fundraiser and good manager.  Leland and Gormly both insisted that the all deans must be good leaders as well as managers, who promote teamwork among faculty.
     Rushing began her career as a faculty member (sociology) at Kent State University in Ohio, then as department chair at the University of Tennessee Martin, before arriving at GCSU in 1998 as an assistant dean of and then dean of then School of Arts & Sciences.
     “it’s a great step up and well deserved even though we will miss her,” Leland said of Rushing’s new position.
     Gormly agreed.
     “It will be difficult to replace her.”
     Rushing admitted that she would miss the faculty, administration, staff and students here at GCSU adding, “I want everyone to know how much I will miss them.  It’s been an important place personally and professionally.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 13 2007. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry