The Retort

Dr. Pagano Tells of His Ambitions

October 21st, 2011 by Patricia Hampton Of The Retort Staff

This year MSU Billings welcomed Dr. Mark Pagano as the new Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Dr. Pagano is originally from southern Illinois. He earned his Bachelor’s, Masters, and Doctorate at Southern Illinois University, focusing on engineering.

Beginning In 1992, Pagano worked at Purdue University. For the past eight years he has been the Dean of Purdue’s extended campuses, which included all of the graduate programs, outreach efforts, online degree programs, and conferences.

As the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Pagano is responsible for overseeing all five of MSU Billings Colleges, which include the College of Education, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Allied Health Professions, the College of Business, and the College of Technology. The Deans of each of these colleges are responsible for reporting to the Vice Chancellor, who acts as an advocate for the Deans and faculty in each college.

Dr. Pagano met with students for pizza and discussions about the education program on Thursday, October 13, in the College of Education. Dr. Pagano opened the discussion to the dozen students in attendance, welcoming them to explain what they believed to be the strengths and the weaknesses of the College of Education, and academics on campus in general.

One student commented that the College of Education is strong in terms of its faculty. Faculty members are always available to students in the classroom, during their office hours, and by email and phone. Education instructors were described as always being quick to respond, and being willing to help their students.

Some of the weaknesses touched on during the lunch included a bias toward primary education, and not enough focus on secondary education. While this may be due to the fact that there are more elementary education majors than secondary education, students would like to see more emphasis on secondary education for those going in to that field.

Looking further into the curriculum, those who are working on their junior field experience or are student teaching commented on the need for a required classroom management course. Much of the focus of this course would be on time management in terms of lesson plan length.

One general suggestion for all academic departments on campus was to do away with the Pearson Mastering homework, and utilize the D2L site that is already in place, and does not cost students an additional forty dollars to be able to access their assignments, quizzes, and tests. It was mentioned that these actions could also be made possible through D2L.

As he begins his work at MSU Billings, Dr. Pagano will be looking to maintain the strengths of each of the colleges, while improving those areas that student view as weaknesses, or needing some degree of improvement.