Power of Three

POWER OF

Three new vice presidents joined the campus community over the summer: Joseph DaSilva, Vice President of Administration and Finance; Richard Glejzer, Ph.D., Vice President of Academic Affairs; and Jeannette Smith, Ph.D., Vice President of Student Affairs. Now that the semester is underway, they’re working on everything from infrastructure to student wellness to helping students at move-in day. Trailhead caught up with them to learn more about their priorities, personalities, and first impressions of MCLA.

What led you to a career in higher ed administration? JD: I started right out of college. I as a substitute teacher and assistant vice president at the juniorsenior high school for a while, and an accountant position came up at Holyoke Community College, where I graduated with an accounting degree. I got the position, and here we are 29 years later. You never expect your whole life to be in the same industry, but shortly after I started, I really found my passion. It’s every year—the joy of students coming in as freshmen, then seeing them walking down the aisle and getting their diploma. You feel a sense of accomplishment. RG: I was an English department chair for a while, which allowed me to straddle the worlds of faculty and administration. My first administrative job was writing center director, which allowed me to work with students and colleagues in a different way. Part of it was finding myself more interested in the larger picture of the institution. How can I help students and faculty? How can I bring folks together to talk about issues that are important to the institution? How can I mobilize faculty? JS: I was a resident advisor in college, and also worked in the library. I lived in Philadelphia after college, working in pharmaceutical marketing/ sales, and hated it. I made a list of all the things I loved in a job, and it was what I had when I was an RA. I missed helping people. A conversation I had with a former colleague led me to a hire as a fulltime residence director, and that’s the first time I learned I could do this work as a career.

THREE

Richard Glejzer, Ph.D.

Jeannette Smith, Ph.D.

Joseph DaSilva

I APPRECIATED THE INTENTIONALITY BEHIND BRINGING THREE NEW VICE PRESIDENTS TO CAMPUS AND CREATING A NEW TEAM THAT SUPPORTS STUDENTS, STAFF AND FACULTY.”

Joseph DaSilva, VP of Administration and Finance

What appealed to you about MCLA? What have your first impressions been so far? JD: I started to do some research before applying. Looking at the mission and vision and what the College had to offer for students, Google Earth shots of the campus, the lay of the land—that all appealed to me. It really stood out and seemed like the next right move in my career, going from a two-year community college to a four-year school. I think I made the right choice! I’m impressed by the faculty and staff I have met, their commitment to higher education and to the students here. RG: I’m really excited to be here! MCLA, from the very beginning of my search, was the job. I’ve spent my whole career in private institutions, but all my own education has been in public institutions. I loved that MCLA was public, and that it was a liberal arts institution. Marlboro was unapologetically liberal arts, and so is MCLA. When you put it in the name, that means something. MCLA is also strongly dedicated to inclusion at every level. As I’ve gone through the process, all those things were demonstrated over and over again. JS: I appreciated the intentionality behind bringing three new vice presidents to campus and creating a new team that supports students, staff and faculty. It was appealing to me that people who are here are very much student centered and want to work together to solve problems. That has been consistent from the moment I did research and applied, to multiple interviews, to my onboarding, and now as students are coming back. It really feels like folks are genuine and candid about being student-centered, about wanting to work together and move the college’s future forward while still maintaining our history, traditions and values. I love that I can talk to someone and they will say, have you tried this trail? Have you gotten corn from this farm? And I have a fantastic staff. They allow me grace to make mistakes, allow me to ask endless questions, and work really well together. It makes it fun—folks come to work and they’re happy to be here.

What are your main priorities for this year? JD: My main priority is the campus facilities. I’m trying to keep advocating for funding and improving MCLA’s facilities and infrastructure. The other priority is to get a good grasp on the current budget that was passed for FY22, and overturning every rock. I will be looking and asking questions about what we’re doing today. Does it make sense? Could we do it differently? I’ll also be looking for different revenue sources, whether it be through grants or even private donors. RG: In the first few months, it’s getting to learn what we do, what we do really well, and what we might want to rethink. One of the things that’s always important to me is the way in which we give students opportunities to learn by doing. I think about community engagement—international study is a big thing for me, especially making it affordable. Spending a semester abroad may seem like a reach but there are things you can do to partner with other institutions abroad to be able to have students have these experiences. We need to bring some more focus to that. I’d also put career services in that category—these are opportunities to work in the field, whatever that field may be. How do we make sure all our students have that kind of experiential learning? How can we think about experiential learning in very intentional ways? JS: As a leadership team we have a goal of making sure our students have a really great in-person experience, and that it’s a safe one as well. How do we support student mental health in this time? Outside of that, I’m looking forward to learning about the community and needs of our students. They tell us a lot about what their expectations are and what they want and need. A goal of ours is to improve that communication and access for students. Our students are already civically engaged and activist minded. They come to us with a ton of experience when it comes to voicing their concerns, needs, and solutions, so we have to be prepared to meet them.

What are some of the main challenges and opportunities in higher education right now? JD: The biggest one, for every college nationwide, is a decline in enrollment. Over the years, state support has not kept up with funding for higher education. On top of that, and I can only speak for Massachusetts, is the aging infrastructure of campuses. It’s problematic across all educational institutions. RG: We’re all about embracing change. We’ve had to embrace so much change through the pandemic. As leaders, we have to be open to the possibilities that are out there. We talk a lot about, “what does it mean to be changemakers and embrace those roles?” Higher education is at a point right now where they need folks to be thinking about change. How do you engage students? How do you engage the faculty? How do you engage the public? These all become really big questions. JS: Like every generation, there are cultural shifts. We’re paying attention to the shifts within our staffing models. How are we supporting staff to be at their very best? How we are supporting students’ mental health, and supporting them holistically is something that will continue to evolve. For liberal arts specifically, it’s continuing to show the value of a liberal arts education and how that’s a benefit for every career path or goal students have.

What are some of your other hobbies? JD: I have two daughters. One is at UMASS as a junior and one is a senior in high school, so they take up a lot of my time. I love vacationing when possible, bike riding, watching sporting events. RG: My oldest son is starting his senior year at the University of Arts in Philadelphia, and my younger son is starting his first year at Macalester. So we’re going through that change. I’ve been a yoga teacher for much of my last 20 years. I have a daily practice that keeps me centered and grounded. That’s a constant for me. JS: I love hiking, camping, water sports, and the arts! We love to take our take our kids—an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old—to shows and performances.

JOSEPH DASILVA,

Vice President of Administration and Finance

Joseph DaSilva has worked in public higher education for over 28 years of which the last 21 years were at Springfield Technical Community College (STCC) in Springfield, MA. During his tenure as Vice President of Administration/CFO, Joe provided executive-level vision, leadership, planning, direction, and managed/oversaw all aspects of fiscal operations, facilities management, Campus Police, Information Technology, Student Financial Services, and Human Resources/Employee Benefits and Operations Center. DaSilva holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Art from Western New England University, Springfield, MA and a Master’s Degree in Higher Education Administration from Bay Path University, Longmeadow, MA. Joe represented STCC in numerous community-based activities, on various organization boards and in many community-based efforts.

RICHARD GLEJZER, PH.D.,

Vice President of Academic Affairs

Dr. Richard Glejzer was most recently the Interim Dean of Graduate Studies at Muhlenberg College, and previously served as Provost and Dean of Faculty at Marlboro College for 10 years. Prior to joining Marlboro, Glejzer served as professor and chair of English at North Central College, and as chair of the college’s academic programs and policy committee. Among his other institutional duties, Glejzer served on the college’s steering committee and the Dean’s Academic Advisory Committee. He was a faculty liaison to the Board of Trustees. Earlier in his career at North Central, Glejzer revised the composition program as the Director of Writing. Glejzer received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in English from the University of New Hampshire and his Ph.D. from University of Missouri-Columbia.

JEANNETTE SMITH, PH. D.,

Vice President of Student Affairs

Dr. Jeannette Smith is a scholar-practitioner with 16 years of work experience in higher education having worked most recently as the Associate Dean of Student Affairs and engagement at Evergreen State College. Smith was employed prior at Truckee Meadows Community College, University of Nevada, Reno, and Elmhurst College. Her practice areas of experience include student unions, residence life and dining, academic advising, financial aid, shared governance, and student employment. Her scholarship areas of interests include policy, equity, financial aid, and student development. Smith earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism/ Marketing, and her Master’s Degree and Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration/Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada, Reno.

AT THE CORE

MCLA’S CORE CURRICULUM IS GETTING A REFRESH THIS FALL, WITH AN INTENTIONAL FOCUS ON DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION.

Eli Janis, Dean of Academic Affairs, who served on the taskforce and said the committee will start adapting and reviewing courses after receiving community input. “We want students to graduate as global citizens who can think about issues of equity and inclusion in whatever field they work in,” said MCLA Chief Diversity Officer Christopher MacDonald-Dennis, who worked on the Core Redesign Task Force leading the effort. “That’s a skill we really want them to utilize.” The curriculum follows the principles of Integrative Learning, which prepares students to make connections across their academic work and lived experiences. By integrating DEI into the curriculum, these concepts become a natural part of learning about everything from the distribution of internet access to how different cultures communicate. “It’s about connecting what they’re learning in the classroom to other things they’re learning outside of the classroom during their participation in extracurricular activities and in their communities,” said Associate Professor of Psychology Ruby Vega, who helped lead the core refresh. “We had been thinking about this from the very beginning. A one-off course isn’t successful for including DEI in the curriculum. To implement something effective, we didn’t want our core to be a checklist of requirements students just went through. We wanted it to be cohesive and substantial. Threading the requirement through the tiers asks students to do more work in that area than a single course would do.” A core curriculum is tied to learning outcomes for students—goals for skills and understanding that touch upon each year of the college experience. These can run the gamut from health and wellness—explaining how behaviors and choices intersect with societal factors—to analyzing significant social issues using multiple theories, perspectives, and methods. This culminates in a capstone course, which reinforces critical thinking, reflection, and effective communication. Students have been pushing for MCLA to adopt more DEI-focused opportunities, too. Associate Professor of Social Work Kerri Nicoll, who served on the task force and also helped organize the College’s Day of Dialogue, said she’s spoken with many students requesting a course around diversity, or some kind of academic requirement. “They want us to be educating and learning from each other about DEI and related issues,” she said. “While some students were pushing for a specific course, the students I’ve had conversations with since then are excited this new core curriculum is the angle we’re taking. A lot of them have had experiences where people go to a workshop or take a class on DEI, and nothing changes about the way they’re thinking.” Now that the new curriculum is live, a Core Steering Committee is continuing to analyze it and make sure students meet the learning outcomes. “There are opportunities for revision and growth that weren’t present in the former core, and more opportunities for consistent student voice,” said Vega. Dean of Academic Affairs Ely Janis, who served on the task force, said the committee will start adapting and reviewing courses and making adjustments as needed, depending on data and community input. “We’re not going to wait 15 years to look at it,” he said. “It really was a campus-wide initiative, and it’s going to be an ongoing conversation.”