Elizabethtown College has been in a state of transition. Not only has the College had to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has also been finalizing structural changes within the school. 

As of this summer, Etown now operates on a “Schools” model wherein similar disciplines are grouped together and multiple Deans are assigned to those “Schools.” 

The new “Schools” are as follows: 

• School of Public Service with April Kelly-Woessner serving as Dean. 
• School of Sciences with Jodi Lancaster serving as Dean.
• School of Arts and Humanities with Kevin Shorner-Johnson serving as Dean.
• School of Engineering, Math, and Computer Science with Sara Atwood serving as Dean.
• School of Human and Health Professions with Tamera Humbert serving as Dean.
• School of Business with Cristina Ciocirlan currently serving as Dean.
• School of Continuing and Professional Studies with Jack Rice serving as Dean. 

For this article, I had the opportunity to talk with Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities Dr. Kevin Scorner-Johnson about his new position.

The School of Arts and Humanities brings together the academic departments of English, History, Religious Studies, Fine Art, Music and Modern Language.

While the College is adopting a new model through the “Schools” system, Shorner-Johnson emphasized, “For the most part, students are not going to notice a tremendous amount of difference.”

Shorner-Johnson also noted that the new model allows for more attention to be directed towards individual academic programs, saying that the Deans “would have more time to really…run the school and think through professional developments.” 

In addition to allowing for greater focus, Shorner-Johnson hoped this new model will also allow for greater collaboration.

“There is a great deal of opportunity now for collaboration and thinking that spans across different disciplines,” said Shorner-Johnson. “The arts and humanities have so many rich events…and I can’t wait to get to the point where we are sharing those spaces together.”

In discussing his role as Dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, Shorner-Johnson emphasized the importance of collaboration and peace-building in his leadership model.

“My leadership model is very much this idea of community organizing,” said Shorner-Johnson. “Good leadership spends a lot of time listening.”

In addition to discussing his leadership strategies, he also outlined his goals and responsibilities as Dean. He emphasized the multi-faceted nature of his new position.

“My role is doing everything from bringing together faculty to talk about curriculum and think about new opportunities to talking with student workers, managing policy, managing budget,” said Shorner-Johnson.

According to Shorner-Johnson, his two main goals for the School of Arts and Humanities are to expand the Digital Humanities and to emphasize diversity. 

“Finding and opening spaces for diverse voice[s] and learning to center the voices that are not centered…is [where] the arts and humanities can lead,” said Shorner-Johnson. 

Drawing on his involvement in the Hispanic/Latinx Task Force, Shorner-Johnson is working to tangibly promote diversity through arts and humanities programming.

“We’ve been having a number [of] conversations about how we can bring new perspectives to the curriculum that we teach,” said Shorner-Johnson. 

Overall, Shorner-Johnson hopes that the new “Schools” model will help enrich arts and humanities education at Etown. 

“There is a tendency often to say that we are moving to this high tech society,” said Shorner-Johnson. “But I would argue that [the arts] have never been more valuable than they are today.”