By Jon Parton
Ruth Randall, dean, Curriculum and Academic Quality, is all smiles. After more than two decades of serving at the school, Randall announced that she will retire in December.
Randall started in 1988, the same year the college built the Industrial Technical Center. She is responsible for a number of programs at the school, including Cosmetology and the Honors Program. Moreover, she oversees curriculum management and helps recommend which classes get cut and which ones stay, or possibly alter.
“Say a business wants to start a new degree or certificate; they may call me in and ask me about the state level approvals,” Randall said.
In order to do her job, Randall said it requires quite a bit of research.
“I have to stay up-to-date with U.S. Department of Education as well as Federal Perkins, which is a federal funding program, as well as the Kansas Board of Regents, new regulations, rules, all of that,” Randall said.
Throughout the entire process, Randall acts as a liaison for the school in order to help speed things along. She is also responsible for the college’s program reviews. All programs are reviewed every five years and are assessed on a number of factors.
“Data is pulled from our Institutional Research department, as well as they answer some questions that were developed by a committee many years ago,” Randall said. “They’re sort of assessed on cost-per-credit hour and student retention. If it’s a career program, students’ placement into those careers. ‘Are there still jobs?’ And so all that information is brought forward to make decisions about funding.”
Randall explained that she served as the Honors Program director before taking on the role of dean, which is why the program is now under her purview.
“It just seemed a natural fit because I knew about it,” Randall said. “And so, you know, the person who takes my place may or may not have that position under them. I don’t know.”
The Cosmetology department also falls under her list of responsibilities.
“That was because several years ago when I was still the Honors Program director, they needed someone to fill in for the director position over there,” Randall said. “I have a cosmetology background. I worked my way through my undergraduate degree after I went to cosmetology school. So they said, ‘Oh, you know, Ruth knows something about cosmetology.’’
Randall said this year has given her time to reflect on her career at the college and what it means for her retirement.
“I thought, and my husband has asked me this too, ‘If you stayed as a faculty member, do you think you would be retiring right now?’” Randall said. “And I had to say, I had to really think about that and I think probably, maybe not because with any higher position comes more responsibility and more headaches and you take it home. So it’s a 24-hour job.”
Randall said that some of her proudest accomplishments involve the success of students.
“I don’t think that a lot of these students had ever considered going to anything but a state university,” Randall said. “They were thinking locally. There’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t want to say that there is, but it’s really wonderful when students can open those doors and look beyond what’s right in front of them and say, ‘You know, I could go to Harvard or Yale or Brown University.’ I had students actually accepted at Dartmouth, Northwestern, Yale, Harvard. In fact, Dartmouth, it was the first ever community college student they’d ever accepted.”
Contact Jon Parton, managing editor, at jparton@jccc.edu.