Current director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication David Ryfe provided a “toolkit for change” based on communication between faculty and the University of Iowa administration during his open forum for the Associate Dean for the Natural, Mathematical, and Social Sciences search on Tuesday.

Ryfe is one of two finalists for the associate dean position, after previous dean Maggy Tomova left the position in September to become the dean of the University of Central Florida’s College of Sciences. Tomova held the role after being appointed in 2019, as previously reported by The Daily Iowan. 

He said his knowledge of how changes in culture and society play a role in facilitating change within the university’s colleges sets him apart from other candidates, Ryfe said.

Ryfe added that higher education and the journalism industry share a similar civil service mission, and he has seen up close the fast-changing environment both institutions have experienced over the years.

“Of any institution in society, journalism has perhaps suffered the most disruption in the past 10 years,” he said. “So, we’ve been very sensitive and responsive to those changes.”

The four categories of Ryfe’s toolkit for change are building trust, creating shared purpose, empowering others, and moving to success. All four categories, he said, focus on communication and building a collaborative environment.

“Academic administration is like walking on ice with tennis shoes: you’re going to have more balance if you hang onto each other,” he said. “And if you push someone, not only are they likely to fall, so are you, and you might spin off in unintended directions.”

Ryfe has trained over the years in “deliberative and dialogic conflict resolution,” he said, which he believes will help in collaborating with those he supervises.

During his presentation, he highlighted three scenarios to show how he would address issues within the college. One scenario was that a low-performing, senior-tenured faculty member is not doing their part within the department, and the Department Executive Officer (DEO) is new to the role and is unsure how to proceed.

Ryfe said while the amount of steps to fix the issue depends on the specific scenario, he would engage in conversation with the DEO and practice empathy to understand the case from their point of view.

“I’m showing the DEO that this isn’t his or her problem to solve,” he said. “This is our problem to solve, that we are going to work together on this issue, so that we can help the department and through helping the department, help the college.”

He added that he wants to recognize success among faculty members and develop methods to “cross-pollinate” solutions across several colleges at the university.

Another scenario he presented was faculty fearing for their jobs in the event of low retention and enrollment rates and feeling unsupportive. He said first and foremost, he wants to listen to faculty concerns and eventually hold a school meeting to be held accountable to the departments and units.

“I want to connect the dots for the unit: where is the college trying to head, why is it trying to head there, what are the processes we’re using to get to that point, and what its going to look like to get there so I can help the department see itself in that change,” he said.

He added post-presentation that he plans on holding individual meetings with faculty members at least once a year — something he tries to do in his current position.

Ryfe said if selected, we will build trust and culture amongst leadership and units; increase local capacity to change; and benchmark and track metrics, cross-pollinate solutions, and reward staff and faculty for their successes.

He ended his presentation with a quote someone said at a leadership conference he attended,  “In the academy, in order to go fast you have to go slow…” which he said is true of the current issues the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences face.

“In order to meet the challenges we face and do it quickly, ironically, we’re going to have to go slow and bring everyone along with us,” Ryfe said. “Because there’s no sense in meeting these challenges and breaking ourselves apart as we do so.”

When asked about equity among staff members, he said within the journalism school, some faculty members were doing more than their share of the work compared to others. He said the first thing he did was respond with empathy and listen to them.

He did his own research on the work distribution among faculty, he said, and then spoke with the leadership team to determine the options to solve the issue.

“What I am trying to do is call out the questions and identify the choices that we can make. I don’t always have to have the right answer,” she said. “And I empower the faculty to come up with solutions that I haven’t thought of.”

Ryfe emphasized his belief in community and “our values” as a college when asked about what values are important to him and how he will reinforce morale.

“If we are going to make changes in a way, and they’re going to be significant changes…we have to collaborate with one another, and share in these problem solvings,” he said. “So it can’t be my metrics, they can’t be your metrics. They can’t be my values, they can’t be your values — they have to be our values.”

He said student success is very important to him, as 80 percent of the liberal arts college’s budget is funded through undergraduate enrollment.

“We have a real commitment to the [undergraduate] students to help them be successful…and I would add graduate students to the mix, as well,” he said. 

The final associate dean forum is Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. The candidate will be announced prior to the forum.