University News
Name Bonnie Smith-Skripps Dean of College of Education and Human Services
May 6, 2004
MACOMB, IL – Bonnie Smith-Skripps has been named the permanent dean of Western Illinois University’s College of Education and Human Services (COEHS), effective June 1.
Smith-Skripps has served as interim COEHS dean since December 2001. She was elevated to that role when then Dean David Taylor was named interim president.
“Dr. Smith-Skripps has been involved in the development of the college’s technology initiatives, has been successful in obtaining grants for the University and has demonstrated her commitment to the teacher development and human services components of the college,” said Provost and Academic Vice President Joe Rallo in announcing her appointment.
As the College of Education and Human ServiceÂ’s acting/interim dean, she has responsibility for the overall leadership and management, and her duties include faculty recruitment, development and evaluation as well as program development and review. She also has taken an active role in fundraising and developing several external partnerships. She serves as chair of the University Teacher Education Committee and oversees the accreditation process of WesternÂ’s teacher education program. Her academic rank is professor in the department of educational administration and supervision.
Smith-Skripps has a significant track record in securing external funding. She has been the principal investigator for grants totaling $14,999,466 and the co-principal investigator for $11,790,100 in grants. She has leadership experience in both traditional and nontraditional higher education programs including distance learning initiatives. She spearheaded the development and delivery of the collegeÂ’s first distance masterÂ’s degree program. Through a collaborative effort with the United States Department of Education Star Schools Program and the Pacific Region Educational Laboratory, the college offered a hybrid (online with two face-to-face instructional segments) instructional technology and telecommunications (ITT) masterÂ’s degree program to educational leaders on 10 islands in the Pacific Region.
Her national leadership includes chairmanship of the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) Technology in Teaching Committee. She currently serves as chair of the United Star Distance Learning Consortium, a multi-state initiative to provide quality secondary instruction and professional development through distance delivery to P-12 schools across the country. Since 1993 she has co-chaired the planning committee for the annual Illinois Education and Technology Conference.
Prior to being named acting dean in December 2001, Smith-Skripps served the college as assistant and associate dean from 1995 to 2001. Among her duties as assistant dean from 1995 to 1998 was oversight of non-teacher education undergraduate and all graduate curriculums. She administered grants and contracts, and she played a significant role in furthering the integration of technology in the college. As associate dean from 1999 to 2001 she had responsibility for the graduate curriculum and continued to oversee the administration of grants and contracts.
From 1980 to 1995 Smith-Skripps served as the coordinator of Macomb Projects and director of special projects at the college. She has worked at Western since 1975. Prior to entering administrative positions, she taught in the department of English and Journalism from 1975 to 1979.
Smith-Skripps earned her B.A. (1973) in English Teacher Certification, her M.A. (1974) in English and her Ed.S. (1989) in Educational Administration from Western. Her Ph.D. (1993) in Educational Administration is from Southern Illinois University. She wrote her dissertation on “Implementation of Satellite Distance Learning in Illinois Rural Secondary Schools: A Descriptive Study.”
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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