NEW DEAN OF HASS DREAMS COLLECTIVELY

YYolanda Flores Niemann, new dean of USU's College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, believes in dreams. “My childhood was all about pursuing seemingly impossible dreams and goals.” Growing up in San Antonio, Texas, she came to recognize the difference between those with education and those without. For families like hers, frequent moves were the norm because of the gap between wages and the cost of rent. Her father's third-grade education limited his prospects as a tile layer. Her mother, who made it to 7th grade before also dropping out of school to help her family, cleaned hotel rooms.

Flores Niemann was curious and insatiable in the classroom, despite having to work from age 10 on. In junior high the principal encouraged her in every way possible. The first person in her family to graduate from junior high, she excelled in her AP classes in high school ý with college as the objective. That drive motivated her beyond college and graduate school into the fast-track of academia. She has written three books, chaired a department, assisted a provost and landed two multi-million-dollar college preparatory grants for public schools serving low-income families.

As dean, she will meet with her colleagues to hear about their dreams for their departments. “I will ask them, ‘What do you want to be known for?’ I will listen to many voices to come up with a collective vision for the college. No unit, no discipline will be left out. That doesn't mean we'll do everything, but everyone will have a voice in the decision.”

The product of a national search, Flores Niemann comes to Utah State from Washington State University, where she was a special assistant for accreditation and distance education to the dean of the College of Liberal Arts. Before that position, she headed the Department of Comparative Ethnic Studies, directed Latino outreach for the university, and oversaw outreach and faculty affairs for the provost. She earned her doctorate in psychology at University of Houston in 1992 and specializes in the psychology of stereotyping and token status. She is also known for her expertise in bridging the educational gap between ethnic and socio-economic groups, especially those of Mexican descent.

Her interdisciplinary background will be an asset in a college with a diverse range of majors, says search committee member Roberta Herzberg, who chairs USU's political science department.

Flores Niemann's success in landing $12-million and $14-million grants from the U.S. Department of Education and matching them with donations from the community also impressed the committee. Fundraising will be an important part of her responsibilities as dean. “I'm very relationship oriented,” she says. “I look forward to getting to know alumni and what they're passionate about. Connecting those interests with the needs of the college creates a win-win for everybody.”

–Jane Koerner