Kelly Cowan is transitioning into a new role as a community liaison after four years as dean of Miami University's Middletown Campus. (Contributed Photo)
Miami University Middletown Campus Dean Kelly Cowan announced her resignation last month after serving four years as dean.
According to Janis Toennisson, director of public affairs at Middletown, Cowan has taught on microbiological education at Miami since 1993 and plans to eventually return to her position in teaching.
Provost Jeffrey Herbst confirmed Cowan will serve as a community liaison during the 2009-10 academic year and focus on her passion for microbiology and teaching.
According to Cowan, working with the community was one of her favorite roles as dean.
"Whoever is the interim dean, (Cowan) will be working with them and will be focusing on the community part of it," Toennisson said.
Cowan explained she believed it was time for change after serving four years as dean.
"I really feel like I'm at a crossroads where I've accomplished a lot of the things, the first wave of things that I wanted to get done and now with all the changes coming to the regional campuses, I think it might be a good time to attract another candidate to do this," Cowan said.
Cowan also said she wished to spend more time with her youngest son who will be a senior next year.
"In the position I was in, there was a lot of evening and community work," Cowan said. "It is my last year to spend with my youngest son before he goes off to college, so I want to spend as much time with him as I can."
Therefore, Cowan decided to leave her position as dean, return to full-time teaching and focus more on her family.
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"I think that's part of it, it is a very demanding job. And she's also a really good educator," Claire Wagner, Director of Miami's News and Public Information, said of Cowan's resignation.
Toennison agreed with Wagner that family was the rationale behind Cowan's resignation.
"She has a 17-year-old son and this is going to be his last year at home, she said, and that was the No. 1 reason. She wanted to spend more time with him," Toennisson said.
After stepping down as dean, Cowan's legacy includes leaving the campus on solid financial footing, bringing in new faculty members and supporting the creation of the bachelor's degree program in Integrative Studies. Cowan indicated she was proud of her accomplishments during her time as dean.
"We now have the opportunity to offer bachelor degrees, our enrollments are up, we're back in the black budgetarily and I do think we could benefit from an external viewpoint," Cowan said.
Toennisson described the improvements Cowan accomplished over her four-year term as dean.
"She balanced our budget and that really was a big deal," Toennisson said. "She has always been working more toward the increased alignment of the regional campuses, so that the Hamilton, Middletown and now the Voice of America work more closely together now than they did before."
Herbst praised Cowan's work and said he is responsible for selecting an interim dean for next year.
"She has laid a really strong foundation given the work she has done over the past four years and hopefully the interim dean will build on that. I also believe the campus will continue to go from strength to strength," Herbst said. "She's been a longstanding faculty member; she first was interim dean of Middletown for two years and then she was appointed the regular dean two years ago so this was her fourth year as dean. I think she did an outstanding job."
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