AACC has a new assistant dean of liberal arts, who will oversee the college’s new fields of interest program.

Dr. Marjorie Rawhouser, the assistant dean of liberal arts, also will oversee the transfer studies program.

A quarter of AACC students are in the transfer studies program, often because they don’t know what they want to major in, said Vice President of Learning Mike Gavin.

“So we wanted to have administrative overview of that area,” said Gavin. “We want these students to have an idea of where they are going,” 

“The new [assistant dean] position is to get students on the right path,” said Public Relations and Marketing Executive Director Dan Baum.

Rawhouser, a professor of engineering here since 2010, said she found the position appealing because she wants to make a contribution outside of the classroom.

“I want to reach more students and make a broader impact,” said Rawhouser. “I really like the contact this job has with fields of interest and transfer studies.”

Before coming to AACC, Rawhouser, whose bachelor’s degree is from the U.S. Naval Academy, served in Baghdad as a liaison to the U.N. for a year before she began her teaching career.

“Because she is an engineer,” Gavin said, “[Rawhouser] understands structure.” “That came through in her interviews.”He  explained that the new fields of interest program will allow undecided majors to try out courses in several related fields before they decide—without losing college credit once they choose.

The fields of interest program organizes existing courses to direct students. “That’s really what we’re trying to do,” he said, “provide structure for something without structure.”