When Joanna Masingila was named dean of the School of Education, she received not one, but two standing ovations.

Kelly Chandler-Olcott, a professor and chair of the reading and language arts department in the School of Education, said those standing ovations, which took place during the announcement of Masingila as dean, are indicative of how most of the faculty and students feel about her appointment.

“Her first standing ovation, which I think was earlier than anyone who was running the program expected that it would come, it felt so wonderful to be part of that,” Chandler-Olcott said. “I’m not a particularly emotional person in a professional context and I got chills because it was just clear that there was consensus around the choice and people felt excited about her and that they felt really excited about the School of Ed.”

Elizabeth Liddy, Syracuse University’s interim vice chancellor and provost, announced Masingila’s appointment last Tuesday. Masingila has been at SU since 1992. She started out as a professor in both the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education, teaching mathematics and mathematics education. She has held other positions at the school, including interim dean of the School of Education since February of last year.

“It’s very exciting. I have a great group of faculty, staff and students in the School of Education,” Masingila said. “I’m very excited about the things that we’ll be doing. While we have some challenges, I think that all of us are very interested in working together to move forward and to move into a new era.”

Masingila said as dean she wants to focus on improving recruitment, supporting the faculty and increasing financial support for research and study abroad. She added that she wants to make SU a leader in dealing with the challenges in K-12 education locally and nationally.

“I think that we haven’t been as focused on that and so that’s something that I’m really excited about. People are really interested in that,” Masingila said. “There’s a real interest in us being involved in the national conversation on education.”

In her time as interim dean, Masingila said she focused on communication between the various departments and groups in the college, especially regarding financial issues. She started the process of developing position statements about some of the bigger issues facing education in the state and the nation, like Common Core standards, and started conversations about the School of Education’s role as the Fast Forward movement brings changes to the university.

Kathleen Hinchman, the associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Education, said she believes Masingila is well-equipped to lead the college in what she believes is a time of great change because of Fast Forward, a university-wide initiative launched last year by Chancellor Kent Syverud.

Hinchman said she can’t think of a better person to lead the school, and to make plans so that the school becomes more recognized.

One of the things that will make Masingila a good leader is her communication skills, Hinchman said. She said people feel comfortable talking to Masingila.

“She’s really well-liked by people,” Hinchman said. “But it’s because she listens to them, helps all of us to understand how we fit in to the institution, respects all of our work and all of our opinions and has built her agendas around that so I think she helps us to be our best selves.”

Published on March 25, 2015 at 9:00 pm

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