Kickin' back with the Dean
Christi Lue
Issue date: 3/2/06 Section: News
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Sometimes, early in the morning, Carolyn Perkins can be found riding down to Snyder Park on a bicycle, in the wee hours of the morning. She'll be balancing a dozen eggs in a basket and a marker to write on them. She stops just short of the water's edge, dismounts, takes out her eggs and starts scribbling furiously.
"John Doe" is printed across egg number one before it goes sailing into the rocks below. Following closely is the frowning face of egg number two.
With that inner fury now let out, Perkins mounts her bike and pedals back onto the tracks of the park.
Carolyn Perkins is Wittenberg University's Dean of Students. She oversees residence life, multicultural activities, judicial affairs, Greek life and the health and counseling centre. Simply put, her job is to stay "one step ahead of the students," she said during a recent interview with Witt's journalism students.
The egg throwing incident is one of the stress-relieving techniques Perkins sometimes engages in to "blow off steam" after a tough week.
It's an intense job, one in which she is required to counsel and discipline the students, regulate their behaviour and sometimes their more adventurous ideas, in addition to advising Mark Erickson, the President of the University, on student life. Her job demands her attention on all matters concerning Wittenberg's students.
"Some days it's wonderful, and some days it's not so wonderful," she says.
To some students, she can be a bit of a kill-joy. Perkins' role as a disciplinarian means that sometimes she's seen as the "Mean Dean."
Being the perceived enemy of the student population can be rough. "It gets to you," she says.
Since her arrival here two years ago, life as the dean has been full of its own pressures. Perkins puts her Master's degree in Educational Psychology to work in dealing with issues like emotional and mental health, eating disorders, cutting, hazing and binge drinking.
"John Doe" is printed across egg number one before it goes sailing into the rocks below. Following closely is the frowning face of egg number two.
With that inner fury now let out, Perkins mounts her bike and pedals back onto the tracks of the park.
Carolyn Perkins is Wittenberg University's Dean of Students. She oversees residence life, multicultural activities, judicial affairs, Greek life and the health and counseling centre. Simply put, her job is to stay "one step ahead of the students," she said during a recent interview with Witt's journalism students.
The egg throwing incident is one of the stress-relieving techniques Perkins sometimes engages in to "blow off steam" after a tough week.
It's an intense job, one in which she is required to counsel and discipline the students, regulate their behaviour and sometimes their more adventurous ideas, in addition to advising Mark Erickson, the President of the University, on student life. Her job demands her attention on all matters concerning Wittenberg's students.
"Some days it's wonderful, and some days it's not so wonderful," she says.
To some students, she can be a bit of a kill-joy. Perkins' role as a disciplinarian means that sometimes she's seen as the "Mean Dean."
Being the perceived enemy of the student population can be rough. "It gets to you," she says.
Since her arrival here two years ago, life as the dean has been full of its own pressures. Perkins puts her Master's degree in Educational Psychology to work in dealing with issues like emotional and mental health, eating disorders, cutting, hazing and binge drinking.
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