Interim Associate Deans of Arts and Sciences Announced

We're pleased to announce that Kevin Mirus and Phil Gasper have accepted temporary, interim Associate Dean positions in the Arts and Sciences Center through June 30. They will join interim Dean Todd Stebbins and Associate Dean Shawna Carter.

In this interim role, Kevin and Phil will be coordinating and participating in the hiring process for part-time faculty, assisting with the fall 2011 and spring 2012 scheduling processes, meeting with students about instructor concerns and supporting students with identifying solutions and appropriate resolution processes at the college, participating in advisory committee meetings across the college as the general education representatives, attending department and center outreach/planning meetings, and developing pathways for students in coordination with departments in Arts and Sciences to create areas of emphasis for the Associate in Arts and Associate in Science degrees.

Dr. Kevin Mirus received his Ph.D. in Physics in 1998 from UW Madison. While working on his Ph.D., Kevin trained teaching assistants for the physics department, was a Letters and Sciences Teaching Assistant Fellow, and won the Dillinger Teaching Award for physics teaching assistants.

Prior to coming to Madison Area Technical College, Kevin was a high school teacher for Marshall Public Schools and was a consultant for Corporate Technology Solutions in Milwaukee. Kevin started his Madison College career in 2001 as a Math instructor in the Arts and Sciences Center. He has taught twenty-six different classes over the past ten years, which has given him a unique overarching view of the sequencing and overall structure of our Math Department.

In addition to teaching, Kevin has demonstrated his leadership abilities as Chair of the Arts and Sciences Mathematics Department. In this role, Kevin has overseen completion of course portfolios; helped hire, train, and mentor full-time and part-time faculty; overseen curriculum review, including a detailed re-alignment of algebra sequence to eliminate overlap; and increased the amount of professional development opportunities available to math faculty.

Kevin recently engaged in other leadership roles, including Madison College liaison to district high schools and a dual credit trainer, President of the Wisconsin Affiliate of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges, Board Member of the Hill Farm Swim Club, and Facilities Director for the 2010 All-City Swim Meet.

Dr. Phil Gasper received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cornell University in NY. He comes to this position with over twenty years teaching experience at a variety of colleges and universities. Between 1995 and 2008 he was successively assistant, associate, and full professor at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) and was awarded tenure in 2001. During most of that time he served, first, as chair of the Department of Philosophy, and then as chair of the combined Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. 

While at NDNU, he also chaired several university-wide committees (including the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and the Rank and Tenure Committee) and served as Vice-President and then President of the Faculty Senate. NDNU granted Phil Professor Emeritus status in May 2009.

After moving to Wisconsin for family reasons, Phil began his Madison College career as a coordinator of part-time faculty in the Office of Part-time Faculty Support and Services in June 2008. In this position he helped to design and pilot the observation process for part-time instructors and has since carried out well over 200 classroom observations, including follow-up meetings to give instructors teaching advice and professional development recommendations. During most of this time, he has acted as a liaison between the Office of the Part-time Faculty Support and Services and the Arts and Sciences Center.

In addition to his responsibilities as an administrator, Phil has been a part-time philosophy instructor at Madison College since spring 2009.

We look forward to working with Kevin and Phil in the Arts and Sciences Center office, room 246 at the Truax campus.

Please join us in congratulating Kevin and Phil on their new interim roles at Madison College.

Questions?
Contact Stebbins[at] matcmadison [dot] edu (Todd Stebbins) at (608) 246-6976.