College of Education and Human Services

College of Education and Human ServicesA 'full circle' farewell:
Bonnie Smith-Skripps will retire at the end of Spring 2009 semester

By Alison McGaughey
 
As COEHS Dean Bonnie Smith-Skripps prepares for retirement at the end of this semester, her career at WIU will have truly come full circle—considering that she began at Western as an undergraduate student.

Smith-Skripps received a B.A. in English teacher certification in 1973 , an M.A. in English (1974) and Ed.S. in Educational Administration (1989). After starting out as an instructor in the English department, she was recruited to a new position in the College, working to obtaining federal and state grant funding. During her time as dean, the College has added a number of Bonnie Smith-Skrippsnew initiatives, including Western’s first doctoral degree.

Looking back over her career, she shares her thoughts with Western News.

WN: Tell us how you first came to Western. 
I grew up in a farming community about 40 miles northwest of Macomb and attended all 12 years of school at Yorkwood School District—graduating class of 53 students in 1969. I came to Western as a junior after attending Carl Sandburg College, and majored in English education. I was well acquainted with Western because of proximity, and knew friends who’d had positive experiences at WIU. My aunt, Elizabeth Waugh ’60, had attended WIU when it was a Normal School.

WN: How did you begin to shift your career from English teaching into educational administration?
After I had taught English, with more serendipity than conscious career planning, I assumed the position of coordinator of Macomb Projects (now Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood Education), in the College of Education. For close to 10 years I worked with Dr. Patti Hutinger, a prolific grant writer and personal mentor, and gained a knowledge base and skill set in writing for and administering large competitive federal and state-funded projects that utilized the expertise of staff and faculty from various departments. I then joined the Dean’s Office as director of special projects to lead team efforts in pursuing external funding for innovative approaches to education.  We received multi-state, multi-million grant awards for distance education and instructional technology, and developed other collaborative grant initiatives focused on adult and family literacy, teacher preparation and professional development.

WN: Summarize how your role grew over the years.
I developed an even greater understanding of budget planning, personnel recruitment and team building, establishing priorities and actions plans, and building and maintaining partnerships with various external entities, which resulted in more interface with the College departments and movement into other administrative roles within the Dean’s Office, while becoming a full professor in the Department of Educational Leadership. When Dean David Taylor was asked to serve as Western’s president in 2001, I was selected as interim dean. I made the decision to compete in the national search for the COEHS deanship, not as a direct result of a long-term career goal, but rather due more to my commitment to the College, our faculty and staff and our well–recognized professional preparation programs, as well as to critical importance of our ability to be responsive to our education and human service partners in the region.
 
WN: How would you describe the College as you see it today in terms of presence in the region or the nation? 
The College’s departments prepare professionals in education and human service disciplines to enter the workforce with the necessary skills and the mindset to be lifelong learners and leaders. We are leaders in the Midwest in preparing law enforcement/criminal justice professionals; our teacher candidates and educational administrators are sought after by regional schools. We maintain accredited programs in education; school and agency counseling; recreation, park and tourism administration; social work; dietetics; and athletic training. COEHS provides the expertise, connections, and resources to develop and support our graduates to be agents of change in their professional and community settings. 

WN: What have been some of the most significant changes you’ve seen within the College?
We became the College of Education and Human Services in 1994 and now consist of 13 departments, offering 12 majors, seven certificate programs, and 15 graduate programs, including Western’s first doctoral program—the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership. 

We pride ourselves on being responsive to the changes in our global society and the resulting demands for well-prepared professionals in our fields. A good example is the relatively new major in emergency management, developed in response to 9-11 and Hurricane Katrina. That program now has close to 60 majors and is continuing to grow. We also have more emphasis on student-faculty research and opportunities for our students to engage with the professional world early in their educational career. And, we continue to explore the impact of emerging technologies in teaching and learning, and in the professional fields.
 
WN: Could you describe the College’s goal in preparing teachers-in-training?
Graduates from our education programs need to be prepared to assist all students in their classrooms, regardless of English proficiency, special learning needs, and socio-economic backgrounds. Our biggest challenge now, which reflects national trends, is to prepare teacher candidates with effective strategies for teaching English Language Learners. 

The mission of Western’s Teacher and Professional Education Program is to empower our candidates to become educational practitioners who are deeply committed to the highest standards of professional practice and able to adapt to emerging socioeconomic landscapes, skilled in the use of technological tools that learning; and who are committed to empowering all learners.
 
WN: What are some of the career highlights of which you are most proud?
Receiving approval for the Ed.D. in educational leadership, and seeing our first doctoral candidates march across the stage at Fall 2008 Commencement, was the culmination of many years of effort.  It was exciting to be part of the team that brought Western national recognition for its initiatives in distance education with CAIT and the Star Schools grants. I’m pleased that we have maintained an ongoing partnership with the AT&T Foundation with more than $2 million in funding for education projects. Hiring a leadership team for the College, that works together so well to ensure responsive, high quality programs across our departments, has been very gratifying. And finally, instituting the COEHS Distinguished Alumnus Award to celebrate the success and generosity of our graduates.

WN: What do you believe are some of the greatest aspects of the Western experience?
While it has been close to 38 years since I first came to Western as a transfer student, I can say that the commitment and support shown to students by the faculty and administration has remained consistent. I would not have matured as a student or found my strengths had it not been for English faculty such as Charles Mayer, Arnold Chandler, and Jay Balderson, and educational administration faculty such as Norman Krong, Virginia Helm, and Steve Rittenmeyer. I believe that Western’s graduates leave the university community and enter their professional and personal communities with their own list of faculty and student services staff who made an impact upon their lives—names they will easily recall 30 to 40 years from now. Loyalty to Western continues to grow in strength from our alumni—which attests to a wonderful college experience.

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