DeKALB – Joan Phillips-Hernandez is the new dean of the College of Business. Phillips-Hernandez spoke to the Northern Star about herself and her goals as dean.
CAN YOU TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF?
“I’m a first-generation in my family to go to college, and I loved college when I got there. I was a walk-on on the tennis team, and then I started doing an internship in online legislative tracking because I was a political science and computer science minor, and that’s when I did online before people knew how to spell it,” Phillips-Hernandez said. “And that’s what got me interested in business, because it was a real entrepreneurial venture. And then I worked in the industry for several years, and then I started teaching volunteer for junior achievement by teaching eighth graders applied economics at eight o ‘clock in the morning, and that’s when I fell in love with teaching.”
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY LOOK LIKE AS DEAN?
“I’m trying to get to know everyone so that takes a big part of my day the other part is we’ve got a lot of students who are coming back in a few weeks and so we need to make sure that they’re all registered, they’re getting the advising that they need and that the faculty have the tools and the resources we need to make sure all the books are ordered for the students in the bookstore and so that’s what my day looks like,” Phillips-Hernandez said. “I have had the opportunity to go out and visit with some alums that work in businesses and so getting to see what they’re doing and how valuable their NIU degree was to their career and what’s really touching is how much they want to give back.”
CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES AS DEAN?
“Well, my primary responsibilities as dean is pretty much everything that happens in the college, and making sure that the students, the faculty, the staff, the alumni. One of the great things about being a dean is if you like to juggle with a lot of different balls, a dean job might be for you because you have students that you get to interact with,” Phillips-Hernandez said. “So students have different needs than faculty, but everything revolves around care for the student, right? So we need to make sure the students are well cared for, which means I need to make sure the faculty have the tools and the resources in order to care for the students,” Phillips-Hernandez said. “And the same thing for the staff. And so that’s pretty much where I see my area of responsibility.”
WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THE COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AS DEAN?
“Initiatives around this (the College of Business) are making sure that the students are successful, that they have the proper advising and the tools. And so we always want students to be more successful, that we create more pathways for more students. So that’s a real objective. It’s really focusing on student success,” Phillips-Hernandez said. “The other area is that it doesn’t just happen by focusing on students. We need to be able to have the resources the faculty need so that they’re teaching state-of-the-art. Using state-of-the-art pedagogy is basically how to teach. So the students are engaged in experiential learning and we have the labs that the students need to be able to do the work to prepare them for the workforce of tomorrow. And then the other part of it is, is really engaging with the external community because we’re here as a Business School to serve not only to help the students find great careers as they graduate, but to listen to what the problems are and the needs for innovation, the needs for solving different types of business problems.”
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’D LIKE NIU STUDENTS TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?
“That I’m here for them. One of the high points of what’s happened so far was I had two students just walk in yesterday just because they wanted to introduce themselves to me. And that is the best part of being a dean.,” Phillips-Hernandez said. “How excited I am to introduce new freshmen to the College of Business or to enter our new transfers, but to also attend, you know, in a couple weeks and celebrate the great success of our alumni too. So anything around working with students and helping them to move forward. And I’m so incredibly proud of their great accomplishments. So that’s what’s great. It’s sad to see them leave on graduation, but it’s great to meet up with them as alum.”
