Anne McCall, the new dean of the Division of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, hopes to enhance the curricular environments and existing programs.

McCall comes from Tulane University where she spent 18 years as both an associate dean and an associate professor of French and Italian.

“One of my main priorities is helping this unit develop its resources so it can do more and better than we’re doing now.

“My second priority is enhancing the learning environment. It’s really amazing what is already in place here…. but there’s always more to be done,” the new dean said of her plans.

McCall plans to function as a communicator between her division and the administration in order to create a more effective relationship between students, faculty and the administration.

“[I plan to] improve public relations and fundraising. DU is noteworthy for its educational pedagogical practices.

“I think we’re doing well in this unit but there’s always more to be done, have more effective service learning classes, honors classes. Another area to look at is research,” said McCall.

At Tulane University, McCall helped to quadruple the number of women’s studies majors and minors.

She hopes that by improving public relations with the community and increasing fund raising efforts the division of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will benefit from increased interest and enrollment in its various programs.

“It’s always a challenge for small programs to get the teaching resources they need and the ability to grow and [it] is my goal then to see how they would like to grow if that’s what they’re prepared to do,” McCall said.

The challenge is to allow a [department to do] what it is meant to do and see where it goes.

“I try to encourage creativity,” said McCall.

With 15 departments and several programs to oversee, McCall is already experiencing a busy year.

She has met with department and program chairs and is looking forward to planning new projects with the different departments.

Combined with her responsibilities of raising awareness with the students and administration of the unit’s activities as well as emphasizing the value of a liberal arts education, McCall said that she sees a busy and challenging year ahead.

“[I see this as] an exciting job surrounded by great people as kind and funny as they are smart in a place that you can never finish exploring,” McCall said to summarize her outlook.