Q-&-A with Dorman

Mark Watkins

President Dorman (right) chats with new acquaintances at a meet-and-greet and talk-back session. He has conducted these sessions with all of the departments around campus to further integrate himself into the GC environment and learn what faculty and students expect from him as president.

^{The Colonnade staff writer Caitlin Mullaney sat down with President Steve Dorman for an interview. President Dorman is the 11th president of Georgia College.}

Q: How has your time at Georgia College been so far?

A: It’s been really good. There has been a lot of activity meeting people, faculty, staff and students. I’ve found everyone to be very hospitable.

Q: Has it been an easy adjustment?

A: Any move is hard. This was an easy move because the Presidential Transition Team preparation was put together well.

Q: What have you done since you arrived at GC?

A: I’ve met a lot of people and listened. I have been going around to meet faculty, staff and students to find out what they believe are the needs and directions that we should be focusing on. Also, absorbing culture – we went to one athletic event, the soccer game last week, and a few concerts that were very good. … I thought the SGA meeting was very good – I was really impressed with the order and preparation of the meeting, and SGA’s desire to get things done.

Q: Have you been able to meet a lot of students since arriving?

A: Whenever I walk across campus, people will stop and introduce themselves. I really like this opportunity to meet them.

Q: How do you feel that your academic career has prepared you for your position at GC?

A: I did part of my academic training in liberal arts. I think I have the best of all worlds – I’ve taught and administered at two other universities in the past, and that will help in all aspects of this position. I am also the father of three people in college, so I have been able to experience both sides – the administrator and the parent.

Q: What are you most excited about with this opportunity?

A: The possibility to help the college meet the needs of the future, and to find out what is in sight for public liberal arts schools in the future

Q: How did you initially hear about the position at GC?

A: I saw an ad for the position and then a member from the search firm contacted me. For most positions like this, the search team is given the job of finding candidates with a certain skill set.

Q: What are some of the differences you’ve noticed between GC and previous schools?

A: Size is an obvious difference. Both Florida and Texas A&M are large research schools with over 50,000 students. I feel the quality of the GC students is really good and the faculty and staff are excellent.

Q: Have you explored the Milledgeville community?

A: We went to First Friday and got a taste of all the restaurants – the food was very good. We actually ended up buying too many tickets because we filled up so quickly.

Q: Can you give us a hint of a few things you have scheduled for your first-100-day plan?

A: The transition team set up a listening tour to meet with all the faculty constituents and the students constituents.

President Dorman also conducted a brief interview with GC news outlet GC360 last week, which can be viewed here. 

Posted by Caitlin Mullaney on Sep 20 2012. Filed under Lead stories, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.