Welcome to the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts &Humanities website.
Whether you are a prospective student, soon-to-graduate senior, faculty member, staff, or curious browser, I hope you will find the site useful. Each of our five departments—Communication, English, Foreign Languages, Performing Arts, and Visual Arts—has its own site, where you will find information aboutcourse offerings, advising, faculty members, and so on. Here on the college site, we provide information affecting all students, staff, and faculty in the college. So, if you are interested in college policies and procedures, committees, resources, accomplishments and news, donors and advisors, you are in the right place. I invite you to wander through the site, and to follow up with questions, suggestions, or comments to me or to anyone in the college office.
The Dean’s Office. There are four of us working in Val Browning 312: Susie Lane (responsible for budgets and for knowing everything); Janneca Johnson (working the front desk, responsible for arranging all meetings, supporting development work, maintaining personnel files, and many miscellaneous duties); Diane Stern (director of WSU’s Cultural Affairs series and our liaison with the community); and myself (Dean). Other Dean’s office staff include Associate Dean Catherine Zublin (VBC 359), who mentors faculty through tenure and promotion, handles exchange program agreements, comes up with fabulous ideas for our various celebratory events (scholarship receptions, graduation, etc.); college advisor Debbi Murphy (working in Elizabeth Hall 437, she advises all first and second year students who declare majors in A&H, as well as lots of lost students); and Whitney Sanchez, our website developer, hidden away in VBC 103.
My background is English (SUNY-Buffalo PhD in American Literature), but I was fortunate in having parents who believed in the importance of studying arts and humanities. As a kid I enjoyed art classes at the Milwaukee Art Institute, theatre productions at the Milwaukee Rep, and organ lessons from a teacher with lots of patience. As dean, I continue to enjoy offerings from our faculty and students, making time for recitals, readings, and shows in between signing papers and working on budgets. I usually teach a class in English, which keeps me close to my roots, and take a class in Spanish, which keeps me humble. Faculty members and students keep me energized.
The college currently is drafting vision and value statements. Like the university as a whole, we are committed to access, learning, and community, but we will put our own spin on these particular goals. We respect and value diversity and encourage students to experience other languages and cultures. Generally, we believe our work empowers students to be creative, critical, and productive community members. We know that arts and humanities experiences, dealing with life’s major questions and challenges, will prepare graduates to navigate ever-changing landscapes of the future.
I’m always happy to talk about what’s happening in the college—and there always are many things happening. Please do not hesitate to contact me: madonneminer@weber.edu