Schools

GSU Assistant Provost Named Fellow by American Council on Education


Dr. Sandra Mayfield
Dr. Sandra Mayfield. (GSU)

University Park, IL-(ENEWSPF)- Dr. Sandra Mayfield, Assistant Provost and Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs at Governors State University, has been named an ACE Fellow for the 20011-2012 academic year. Dr. Mayfield is one of 50 Fellows named last month by the American Council on Education (ACE).

The ACE Fellows Program, established in 1965, is designed to strengthen institutional capacity and build leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising senior faculty and administrators for responsible positions in college and university administration.

“During my Fellowship year, I hope to gain a broader understanding of leadership roles in higher education, including issues of finance and fundraising, management of change, student recruitment and retention, and methods for assessing student learning outcomes,” Dr. Mayfield said. She also wants to bring back useful information related to the complex leadership relationships between academics, support services, and facilities as these issues pertain to GSU.

Dr. Mayfield will complete her ACE Fellowship year under the mentorship of DePaul University’s president, Fr. Dennis Holtschneider. While completing her ACE Fellowship year at DePaul, one of her major GSU responsibilities, liaison to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, will be assumed by Dr James “Chip” Coldren, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and co-director of GSU’s Center for Technology Collaboration.

Dr. Mayfield, a tenured professor of communications disorders at GSU, came to the university 15 years ago after holding academic and clinical administrative positions at universities in Michigan, Connecticut, and Illinois. At GSU, she has held a series of administrative positions, including program coordinator, division chair, and acting dean in the colleges of Health Professions and of Arts and Sciences. In 2005, she was awarded a $788,500 federal grant to train bilingual and culturally competent speech-language pathologists to work with children in schools and early childhood programs.

Dr. Terry Allison, GSU’s Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, nominated Dr. Mayfield for the Fellowship.

Many previous ACE Fellows have advanced into major positions in academic administration. Of the more than 1,700 participants in the first 46 years of the program, more than 300 have become chief executive officers and more than 1,100 have become provosts, vice presidents, or deans.

Each ACE Fellow will focus on an issue of concern to the nominating institution while spending all or part of the next academic year working with a college or university president and other senior officers at a host institution. The ACE Fellows Program combines retreats, interactive learning opportunities, campus visits, and placement at another higher education institution to condense years of on-the-job experience and skills development into a single semester or year. The Fellows are included in the highest level of decision making while participating in administrative activities and learning about an issue of benefit to their universities.


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