Between the flurry of fall semester finals, and the time of decompression during winter break, the College was busy appointing two new additions to its faculty. The College has named Jacqueline Taylor as the new provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, and Jeffrey Passe as the dean of the School of Education.

Taylor comes to the College from Chicago’s DePaul University. There, she held different leadership positions, including that of the founding dean of the College of Communication. Her thirty-plus years of experience in the world of academia gave her an advantage over the other candidates and the experience creates a valuable knowledge base that is applicable to her position at the College.

Provost and vice president of academic affairs is a position that cuts across a wide array of responsibilities, most notably economic and academic.

According to the College’s web-page, which is devoted to outlining the duties of the provost and vice president of academic affairs, Taylor will be expected to supervise budgets, build on existing business models, and reflect on new methods to boost academic revenue. She will report directly to the College’s president,  R. Barbara Gitenstein, and will serve in the president’s cabinet.

In addition, Taylor’s new position anticipates that she will help promote the College’s reputation on a more national level. This leadership role will synthesize the role of publicly communicating the College’s current success along with building future academic success.

One of Taylor’s first duties as incoming provost was to Skype-interview candidates for the position of dean of the School of Education.  Taylor’s choice was the second winter break addition to the College’s faculty, Jeffrey Passe. Passe was selected as the new dean and will begin his position in July of this year.

Passe will taker over for Mark Kiselica, who was serving as interim dean after succeeding Bill Behre who was promoted to the Assistant vice president of the College’s Advancement Office.

Most recently, Passe was a professor and the chair of Towson University’s Department of Secondary Education. He holds his Ph.D., which is in curriculum and instruction, from the University of Florida.

A devoted scholarly writer, Passe has had many articles and a few books published, many of which deal with social studies and teaching elementary and middle-school aged students.