Waugh, Miller named to interim posts

Business Professor Dr. Wendy Waugh will be the Interim Dean of the School of Business, Math and Science, and Graduate Program. English and Humanities Professor Dr. Lee Miller will be the Interim Associate Vice President of Teaching and Learning. Waugh begins her duties Aug. 1, while Miller begins Aug. 2.

Chadron State College’s Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Charles Snare is looking forward to seeing Waugh and Miller in their new roles.

“Both of these interim positions present opportunities for leadership experience for faculty,” Snare said. “This experience will help give them a broader understanding and appreciation for what people do at CSC. It also provides the Vice President for Academic Affairs Council and other committees to learn and grow as they bring in new ideas and perspectives.”

Snare said he expects both positions to have searches for permanent replacements to begin in mid to late fall.

Waugh will replace Dr. Joel Hyer, who is leaving CSC after nearly 20 years to become a Dean at Missouri Western State. As the Interim Dean, Waugh will oversee the Business, Math, and Science departments, and direct the Graduate Studies program.

Waugh, who has worked at CSC since 1992, initially came to campus as a Resident Hall Director. She was in that role for one year before she began her teaching career in the Business Academy in 1993. She has distinguished herself among her peers, winning Chadron State College’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2009, delivering the 2016 Graduate Commencement Address, and recently serving as Department Chair.

Waugh has five degrees: A Bachelor of Science in Management and Electronic Data Processing and a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Business Education from Wayne State, a Master’s of Science in Education: Business Specialization from the University of Nebraska-Kearney, an MBA from CSC, and a Ph.D. from Capella University in Minneapolis in Organization and Management.

“I feel very fortunate to have been asked to serve the CSC community as Interim Dean. The most important responsibility of a Dean is to work on behalf of the students and faculty, and I look forward to the opportunity to participate in important endeavors such as academic planning, program enhancement, and faculty development,” she said. “Throughout my time at CSC, I have been committed to building relationships across the institution. As Interim Dean, I will continue to dedicate my efforts toward developing a sense of unity, common purpose, and shared goals.”

Miller taught composition at two Texas institutions – Westwood College of Technology and Texas Woman’s University – before joining CSC’s English and Humanities faculty in 2005.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts in the Bible with an emphasis in Greek and his Master’s in Divinity from Abilene Christian University. He earned his Ph.D. in Rhetoric from Texas Woman’s University in 2009. 

Miller has served as Upward Bound’s Writing Workshop Instruction since 2011 and was Faculty Senate President during the previous academic year. Miller also served on various campus committees and, co-sponsored Sigma Tau Delta for a decade, and organized faculty workshops and writing consortiums.

As the Associated Vice President of Teaching and Learning, Miller will be responsible for the library, the Teaching and Learning Center, and work to create a strategic plan to expand online course offerings.

“I’m looking forward to using the next year to get a sense of where we are, with the Teaching and Learning unit on campus, and where we might most productively go in the coming months and years. I plan to ask a lot of questions, to listen attentively to faculty, staff, and administration, to gain a deeper understanding of what we need, what we want, what’s already in place, and what we can work toward,” Miller said. “I’ll likewise research what others are doing in higher education, but especially at similar institutions to ours, to support faculty in doing their most important job – teaching – both in the classroom and online. My goal is to set things up so that the person hired to fill the position permanently can continue that work successfully.”