Sarvela Named Permanent Dean of College of Applied Sciences and Arts

By Pete Rosenbery of SIUC Media and Communications Resources

Paul D. Sarvela has been permanent dean of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts.

"I am confident that Paul will continue to lead the College of Applied Sciences and Arts with the same degree of skill, enthusiasm and commitment he has shown over the past 20 months," SIUC Provost John Dunn said. "He has done an outstanding job, and I know he will continue to further enhance the college's national recognition."

Sarvela was chosen from a field of four finalists, who each spent two days in April interviewing on campus and participating in candidate presentations and forums.

"I am delighted, pleased and honored," said Sarvela, who is completing 18 years at SIUC.

SIUC Chancellor Walter V. Wendler said Sarvela understands what drives the quest for excellence in higher education. "Paul is an excellent choice because of his understanding of leadership and his commitment to moving the college forward," Wendler said. "His academic credentials, experiences as a department chair and his recent leadership on an interim basis played into the Provost's decision."

Sarvela thanked the work of the search committee, along with Dunn, Chancellor Walter V. Wendler and President James E. Walker.

With a combined enrollment of nearly 3,000 undergraduate students on campus and at 19 off-campus sites across the United States, CASA is the third-largest college at SIUC, he said. There are 236 on-campus faculty and staff, and 212 off-campus faculty and staff.

"We have a lot of challenges facing us, but we are up to the task," he said.

Among Sarvela's goals is "absolutely continuing to maintain an outstanding undergraduate education program, which includes continuing to hire a fine faculty," he said. "We have done a real good job in hiring a highly qualified and diverse faculty."

Simultaneously, the college needs to continue to "refine and focus our niche areas in research with the goal of being the best in the world in a particular issue or problem," he said. The college will place a "tremendous emphasis" on grant writing and fund raising as part of the Southern at 150 initiatives, he said. The college's goal is to raise $13 million in cash contributions and in-kind donations in the next five years.

"We expect to do aggressive fund raising in all of our programs," he said.
Southern at 150 is the blueprint for the development of the University by the time it celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2019.

Other key goals include refining or developing signature community service for each of the college's programs; providing externships, internships and tutoring for students; and ensuring curriculum is in line with the needs of each program. Development of graduate programs also is continuing, he said.
Sarvela said he loves working with faculty, staff and students, but what he really enjoys are their "successes." Among the many success stories are a one-time Navy enlistee who earned a bachelor's degree in health sciences administration at CASA's off-campus program at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, and is now a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy; students with 100 percent passing rates on physician assistants' exams; and a robotics team that reached the semifinals of nationwide competition.

"When you have success stories like that è and then you have faculty and staff working hard on projects that make a difference, who can't love that? This is a great college to be associated with and the future is very bright for the College of Applied Sciences and Arts," he said.

Prior to becoming interim dean, Sarvela served as chair of SIUC's Department of Health Care Professions since 1999. Sarvela came to the University in 1986 as an assistant professor of health education. He became an associate professor in 1989 and achieved the rank of full professor in 1992.

Sarvela earned a bachelor's degree in psychology in 1981, a master's degree in educational psychology in 1983 and a doctorate in health education in 1984, all from the University of Michigan. He was an American Council on Education Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1996-97, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Health Behavior.

Sarvela lives in Carbondale with his wife, Debra Ann, and two children. He is the son of Junia Shackman of Milwaukee, and the late Rev. William Sarvela.