The first Breakfast with the Dean was held Jan. 17 and offered students the opportunity to ask Steve Griffith any questions they had about Simpson.

 

No students took advantage of this event.

 

“I wanted students to have an easy opportunity to meet with me,” said Steve Griffith, senior vice president and academic dean. “I have a lot of appointments throughout the day, it’s sometimes hard to get to see me.”

 

Breakfast with the Dean gives the opportunity to increase the communication between the academics side of the college with the students.

 

Any problems or questions that students have about Griffith or anything at Simpson are encouraged by Griffith to be brought up, and Breakfast with the Dean is the easiest way to get in touch with him.

 

“Personally I think it’s really important for students to have the opportunity to speak directly to the administrators,” Griffith said. “This is especially true at a place like Simpson where we are all about one to one relationships.”

 

Students around campus feel the timing is a problem.

 

 “It’s too early,” junior Ethan Hale said. “I feel that more students would likely sit and talk with the Dean if it was during lunch time.”

 

This change could help since during lunch hours students fill the cafeteria. But during Breakfast with the Dean hours, 7:30-8:30 a.m., there were about four tables at a time that had people sitting at them.

 

“We could easily switch it to Lunch with the Dean,” Griffith said. “I usually eat lunch at Pfeiffer anyway, so that if that seems to work out better for the students we will try it.”

 

Students were supportive of this change in time.

 

“I think that more students will more likely show up for lunch than breakfast,” junior Emily Stover said. “But either way, I didn’t even know about it so it should be advertised more.”

 

This might be true for other students as well. A few reminders were sent out to students about Breakfast with the Dean, but since most emails that students receive aren’t aimed for them individually, they end up deleting them right away.

 

“Maybe after the word gets around about Breakfast with the Dean more students will show up,” Hale said. “I hear about events through word of mouth more often than anything else so maybe after a couple weeks of it, it will become more popular and students will show up.”

 

If the next breakfast is unsuccessful in attracting students it  will be switched to Lunch with the Dean. If again no one shows up then it will be stopped since there is no apparent use for it.

 

“One of the problems we run into is that the students sometimes feel that they provide input but things don’t change,” Griffith said. “They have the sense of ‘why bother’ because they are going to do what they are going to do anyway.”

 

Griffith wants to help change that.

 

“I want to do all I can to dispel that notion because students do really matter here and we do take into consideration the needs of students when we make decisions,” Griffith said. “Although we can’t always work as quickly as people like, and we have to look at all the sides, we do take the input of students very seriously and consider it.”

 

Griffith notes that often when he runs into questions it’s a matter of not having enough information.

 

“If we can keep in conversation and share what we know then we can lessen the sense that it doesn’t matter what you say,” Griffith said.

 

Students are encouraged to come to Breakfast with the Dean and share what is on their mind to further enhance the Simpson experience.

 

Breakfast with the Dean is scheduled every third Tuesday of the month with the next one being on Feb. 21 from 7:30-8:30 a.m. If that time is unsuccessful again, it will be switched to lunch hours.