Roland Mitchell, the College of Human Sciences and Education interim dean, has been promoted full time to this position, and assumed his role as dean today. With all he’s accomplished already, he’s looking to continue to help improve his college and the University as a whole.
When Mitchell began at LSU, he started off as an assistant professor writing and teaching his ideas to his student audiences. As he started to hit a fork in the road, he went to speak with his supervisor about his future.
“He said, ‘I want you to follow your passion for your career, but there are things you can do here, opportunities to grow. So let’s talk about opportunities,,” Mitchell said.
He then served as an associate director, and was eventually promoted to associate dean. When the dean for the College of HS&E left, he picked up as interim dean for 15 months before finally ending up in his current position.
The accomplishments that Mitchell hopes to have as dean include growing the knowledge and communication of the faculty, online enrollment and community engagement.
“If we know we have a large student body and more diverse student body, I want our faculty to better understand how to build meaningful, pedagogical relationships with a diverse constituent group,” Mitchell said. “There are different types of online experiences that the University is still trying to figure out so I want to up our ante, and I also want to have a measurable way to say by virtue of the College of HS&E people in the community feel like it’s a better community.”
Mitchell said he’s excited for his new role as dean and sees it as a change of pace from being a faculty member, a position he already loved.
“I’m excited about this job because as an administrator you have to be a little more decisive, and it really is about vision and building consensus,” Mitchell said.
Of course, Mitchell wasn’t always a faculty member at the University. He is originally from Nashville, Tennessee, and completed his undergraduate degree in history and religion at Fisk University. He then went on to earn his master’s degree in higher education from Vanderbilt University. He was a substance abuse counselor in metropolitan Nashville schools before finally becoming an academic advisor/graduate student at Alabama University before coming to LSU.
LSU President F. King Alexander expressed his support of Mitchell and confidence as he takes the reigns in his new role as dean.
“He is a great addition to our leadership team, and I am confident that he will continue to transform the educational experience here at LSU,” Alexander said in a statement.