杏吧原创

Arts and Sciences | Bell TowerOctober 15, 2024

New Dean Returns to Academic Roots

Dr. Toni Alexander has a clear vision about what college should be.

鈥淭his is where you learn to learn,鈥� Alexander told students and their parents at Mane Event, 杏吧原创鈥檚 one-day orientation session, this summer. 鈥淚t is our job is to push you. 鈥� If you haven鈥檛 been pushed, we haven鈥檛 done our job.鈥�

As the new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Alexander said, 鈥淲e will not push you to think a certain way but to think critically about things. We want to make you resilient and adaptable.鈥�

Alexander鈥檚 vision of a college education is tied to her experiences as a student and as professor and administrator in a variety of university settings.

As a high school graduate, after living one year in Finland, Alexander attended California State University at Stanislaus, a commuter college with about 5,000 students. Although she had been accepted by the University of Southern California, she chose the state college because, with a variety of scholarships and awards, she could graduate without debt. Going to the far more expensive university didn鈥檛 make sense for someone who didn鈥檛 really know what she wanted to do when she grew up.

Looking back, she recognizes what a good choice it was: 鈥淓very one of my professors knew me.鈥� That personal relationship with her professors meant she could learn more than class facts from them.

She started taking social science classes thinking she鈥檇 go into high school teaching. Then an advisor asked her if she鈥檇 considered graduate school. She began taking physical and human geography classes and discovered: 鈥淭his is everything I like and everything I see around me.鈥�

鈥淚f I had gone to USC, I wouldn鈥檛 have found my discipline because I wouldn鈥檛 have had professors who knew me.鈥�

From Stanislaus, she went to Louisiana State University for her master鈥檚 and doctoral degrees. After holding a visiting professor position at Kansas State University, she zeroed in on two job offers, one from Minot State University in North Dakota and the other from Auburn University in Alabama.

She spent nine years at Auburn, gaining tenure and taking on some administrative roles. It was perhaps predictable that she chose Auburn, but it was not a choice without regret. Some part of her wondered what would have happened if she鈥檇 chosen the smaller state college with faculty who knew their students by name.

She eventually realized that although Auburn is a public land-grant university, it had wealthy students who were nothing like her. When she started at Auburn, the largest general education classes had 100-150 students. By the time she left, those sections had 300 students. There鈥檚 no way to know students by name in classes that big.

When a chance to join Southeast Missouri State as a department head arose 10 years ago, she took it. While she was there, university enrollment decreased from about 14,000 to 9,000 as colleges nationally saw declining numbers. A reorganization on campus left her restless.

The opportunity at 杏吧原创 was well-timed.

鈥淏eing able to return to a College of Arts & Sciences at a student-centered institution like the University of 杏吧原创 - Fort Smith feels like returning to my academic roots after many years away,鈥� she said when her appointment was announced. 鈥淣ot only does this opportunity allow me that chance to support, collaborate with, and learn from students, faculty, and staff across the heart of the institution, but also contribute to the larger region.鈥�

Leading a college whose classes, faculty, and students are spread across the campus encourages Alexander to look for formal and informal ways to connect. 鈥淚 get my big old candy bag and roam the halls,鈥� she said.

She intends to continue reaching out until connections are second nature. 鈥淲e are one college,鈥� she said.

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