May 02, 2007

Education dean finalist's open forum is Thursday

by K.C. Jaehnig

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- David A. Birch, a candidate for the deanship of Southern Illinois University Carbondale's College of Education and Human Services, begins his round of interviews today (May 2).

He will talk about the educational challenges and opportunities for education in this century in an open forum set to run from 3:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Thursday, May 3, in the Student Center's video lounge on the fourth floor.

Birch, chair of SIUC's Department of Health Education and Recreation, guided the establishment of a new graduate degree, initiated an off-campus master's degree program in Maine, worked with the National Association of Health Education Centers to gain funding for projects that led to faculty publications, increased marketing efforts and put a faculty grant-application support policy into play.

He also coordinated an off-campus master's program and direction of health education outreach programs for The Pennsylvania State University and served as the Maine Department of Education's coordinator of health education.

Kenneth Teitelbaum, chair of the Department of Teaching, Leadership and Curriculum Studies at Kent State University in Ohio, concluded his campus visit Tuesday, May 1. Jeffrey N. Weatherly, chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, will begin his interviews Monday, May 7, and Gregory J. Paveza, interim campus associate dean at the University of South Florida in Lakeland, will visit May 9-10.