In May 2024, we welcomed our interim president, Mark D. Boyce. Mark brings a unique perspective to Dean, serving as a board member since 2003 and chairman since 2011, as well as achieving a long and successful career outside of higher ed. With his strong acumen for business, including an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Mark has worked at companies such as IBM, Anixter, and yesmail.com. He even started his own healthcare technology company, Scribe, and led it successfully for more than two decades. Mark is well-versed in innovation, leadership and growth and looks forward to his new chapter as Dean’s President. We sat down with him to find out a little more about his vision for the future.
Q: What inspired you to take on the role of 15th president of Dean?
After having been on the Dean College board of directors for more than 20 years, 13 of which I held the role of chairman, I knew after the departure of Dean’s last president that it was time for me to step into this leadership position as the College's interim president. The original reason that I joined the Dean board was to get involved in an institution where I can make a difference. I love the mission of Dean, where we put students first, last and always. The Dean Difference is truly the approach to everything that we do. It’s not something specific you can put your finger on, but rather it's in everything that we do. This all goes back to the reason I felt called to this role as president: I truly believe in the mission of Dean. And I believe that everybody deserves the opportunity to go to college if that is their aspiration. And how we make that a reality at Dean, is by being innovative in our mission of putting our students first, last and always.
Q: What are you hoping to accomplish as president?
I come into this role realizing that Dean cannot be everything to everybody. We really need to zero in on what we do best as a higher ed institution and be very focused on our objectives. I have noticed that a lot of colleges and universities cast a far-reaching net to try and meet the needs of a broad population, while not really being able to deliver anything specific to anyone. I would rather focus on ways in which we can be even more successful with our specific program offerings. It's not that we're going to become drastically different, we're just going to do better at what we have always done and not try to be everything to everybody. This will ensure that Dean can best meet the evolving needs of our students and the marketplace.
Q: Are there any specific goals for the year ahead that you’d like to share?
Absolutely!
Number one is enrollment. We want to streamline our enrollment process by coming up with new and innovative ways to connect with students who have been accepted. We want to touch early and often so that we are ensuring enrollment much sooner. And that's also what prospective students are looking for. It’s very easy to apply to multiple colleges these days, and applicants want to see which ones really care about them after they receive an acceptance.
Number two is investing in our people here at Dean. We want to look at where we need to shore up, both from academic and administrative perspectives. For example, where do we need to add staff/faculty or add support services?
Number three is career services. We’re really going to focus on our Dean Career Advantage and what that actually means to our students and alum. How can we make career readiness seamless in all of our programs and coursework? We want to uncover what's meaningful today from a general education. And it doesn't need to be the same for everybody, since all of our students have their own unique paths.
Number four is investing in our facilities. I can’t share specifics at this point, but I will say that every single one is going to be primarily student-facing, from reimagining our admissions office to updating athletic facilities to recreational amenities.
And finally, our valued alumni. We are rebuilding, reinvigorating and reimagining our institutional advancement (IA) organization. I have hired Dr. Murray Decock as a special advisor to the president, who comes to Dean after a 34-year career at Colgate University where he led the Division of Institutional Advancement. As a member of the president’s cabinet, Murray oversaw all fundraising operations, alumni relations, parent programs, career services, special events and external relations. In his new role here at Dean, Murray is charged with helping to develop and build the IA department here at Dean. With Murray’s expertise and advice, we will soon be hiring a new leader to run IA and will begin to implement some innovative new ways to engage you, our Dean alum. We would love to introduce some new AI-based tools to be used in career services for current students and alumni, too.
I would also like to begin an experiential series that will bring in our alum who work in a wide variety of industries to discuss their experiences with current Dean students. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in participating.
Q: Do you have specific thoughts on how to achieve your goals?
I would like to implement what I call “Higher Ed 2.0” and change the way that Dean works—from costs to operations. This means we will have to utilize technology and our resources in different ways because that's what prospective students of the future are seeking. Whether that means we change how we do some of our Gen Ed courses or how we enable our faculty to use various technologies. That could include support in the form of AI or other innovative tools. Those are the things in which we're going to be looking at investing.
Q: What excites you most about the future of the college, and where do you think Dean is heading in the next few years?
I think we're heading in the direction of Higher Ed 2.0, where we have the option to provide a wide array of opportunities and programs for our specific niche of students. Like I said previously, we aren’t going to change Dean drastically, we just want to upgrade the model. One of the great things about Dean is we're small and we don't have nearly the bureaucracy of other larger institutions. We have the ability to implement changes more quickly, which I think is really cool and exciting.
Q: How can alumni contribute to the college’s growth and success moving forward?
We welcome your time, talents, and treasures. We could not be successful without our alumni network. Here are just a few ideas of how you can contribute as a Dean alumni:
1. Financial Contributions – Please consider supporting Dean while estate planning or making charitable contributions. Your donations go towards funding scholarships, academic programs, campus improvements, and so much more. Visit www.dean.edu/give for more information.
2. Mentorship and Networking – Offering guidance to current students through advice, job shadowing, and professional networking is invaluable. And once our experiential series is up and running in the spring, we would love to welcome you back to campus to discuss your career with our students.
3. Internships and Jobs – As you may know, every bachelor’s degree student at Dean must complete an internship before they graduate. So, if you are able to hire an intern or have full-time job opportunities available, please reach out to Thea Cerio, our Director of Career Planning and Internships at tcerio@dean.edu or 508-541-1565.
4. Promoting Dean and Referrals – Please consider referring prospective students to Dean and actively promoting us in your professional and personal networks. If you have a student referral, please contact admissions@dean.edu.
I look forward to connecting with you in the future and hope you will join us for Homecoming October 25-26, 2024. Please reach out to me anytime at president@dean.edu.