{"id":2827,"date":"2016-09-22T07:30:41","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T11:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=2827"},"modified":"2016-09-22T07:30:41","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T11:30:41","slug":"embracing-new-roles-dr-brian-cusatos-promotion-to-associate-dean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2016\/09\/22\/embracing-new-roles-dr-brian-cusatos-promotion-to-associate-dean\/","title":{"rendered":"Embracing New Roles: Dr. Brian Cusato’s Promotion to Associate Dean"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY SEBASTIAN DUNCAN – STAFF WRITER<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Brian Cusato\u2019s promotion to Associate Dean marks a new page in his professional career here at Centre College. Cusato, who is also associate professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, was named associate dean at Centre College in July of 2016. Since then, he has had the opportunity to reflect on his new position and what he hopes to achieve as associate dean.<\/p>\n

Associate Dean Brian Cusato has a passionate yet humble attitude towards his job. Cusato hopes to personally help Centre\u2019s faculty maintain excellence in teaching, but he also considers himself to be \u201cone member of a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cusato, who has experienced a gradual increase in his administrative role since joining Centre\u2019s faculty in 2006, now collaborates with administrative staff to help Centre College faculty maintain a high standard of teaching.<\/p>\n

Becoming associate dean will add to Cusato\u2019s administrative responsibility on campus, but he will maintain a connection to the classroom by teaching two classes a year.<\/p>\n

The associate dean\u2019s main responsibility is to provide feedback to faculty members based off of their student evaluations. Cusato also handles academic dishonesty cases, and he assists Centre\u2019s senior staff with long-term planning for the college.<\/p>\n

As associate dean, Cusato has two main objectives for his term.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy primary goal is to maintain the stellar reputation that [Centre College has] as an institution of excellent teachers,\u201d Cusato said, \u201c[That\u2019s] the calling card of Centre College- we have fantastic individuals who really know how to teach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cusato will maintain high teaching standards by using student evaluations to give professors feedback on their teaching. Since he reads all student evaluations on all faculty members, Cusato believes that an outside opinion can be very helpful to new professors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get an institutional perspective that an individual faculty member might not have,\u201d Cusato said.<\/p>\n

A combination of resources, talented individuals, and a thorough process of reviewing and interpreting student evaluations allows Centre College to recruit and assist first-rate professors. When Centre College tells prospective students that it has excellent teachers, Cusato and his fellow administrators want to ensure that excellence is maintained.<\/p>\n

Cusato\u2019s second objective is to keep the classroom an innovative and effective place for learning. When commenting on teaching methods at Centre, Cusato said, \u201cI want to make sure that our techniques are 21st century techniques.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to ensuring that professors are using the most effective teaching methods, Cusato wants to use student evaluations to communicate effective teaching techniques between faculty members. Since he reads all evaluations, he can share successful teaching methods with faculty without relinquishing confidentiality.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can say \u2018this has helped someone else\u2019 or \u2018I know someone else in a different program that is struggling with the same issue\u2019,\u201d Cusato said.<\/p>\n

Cusato believes that Centre College is an ideal place to introduce new teaching methods because of talented faculty and small class sizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur faculty are really committed to trying new things,\u201d Cusato said, \u201cFrom my perspective, I need to be committed to recognizing how important that is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through his gradual increase in administrative responsibilities, Cusato\u2019s perspective of his role at Centre College has changed. He is excited to assist faculty by reviewing their evaluations, and he enjoys helping new professors get the feedback they need to grow as teachers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got really good teachers [at Centre]. These are individuals who are truly passionate about what they do,\u201d Cusato said.<\/p>\n

Cusato also appreciates how students are impacted by their teachers and the study abroad opportunities that their teachers offer them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see comments by the students who have been transformed by their courses,\u201d Cusato shared, \u201cby the study abroad experiences that they have\u2026when you read that day after day… you realize that we have excellent teachers here\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s humbling but also very inspiring to be a part of that\u201d, Cusato concluded.<\/p>\n

As he takes on a new role in Centre\u2019s administration, Cusato is committed to the college\u2019s reputation for innovative and exceptional teaching. The Cento<\/em> looks forward to seeing Cusato\u2019s ongoing progress towards achieving his vision for the college.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY SEBASTIAN DUNCAN – STAFF WRITER Dr. Brian Cusato\u2019s promotion to Associate Dean marks a new page in his professional career here at Centre College. Cusato, who is also associate professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, was named associate dean at Centre College in July of 2016. Since then, he has had the opportunity to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}