On March 15 the Student Government Association hosted its second annual Dean for a Day event, which allows students to play dean for a day. 

Dean for a Day, hosted by the SGA’s Student Affairs Committee, was originally only for the Schedler Honors College. However, this year it was opened to all UCA Academic Colleges — Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Business, Education, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Health and Behavioral Sciences, and Honors. One graduate student even got to be Dean for a Day.

Donna Wilchie, the student dean representing graduate students, applied to participate in the program because “Why not? I told myself, ‘what’s the worst thing they could do? Say no?’” 

JoAnna Young, the College of Business student dean, saw the program as a unique way to network with higher-ups at the school. Being a nontraditional student, Young said she “feels behind” and wanted to connect with other students. 

To apply, students had to fill out an application and make a video submission on why they should be chosen. Some of them got creative with their videos. 

Emily Temple, the student dean of the Honors College, said they wrote an entire script for them and their friends to perform in their video. Haydn Hudnall, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science student dean, did a Legally Blonde-themed video. 

The students spent the day shadowing their college’s dean, going to sessions to learn leadership and communication skills that correlate with a dean’s job, and having lunch with President Houston Davis. 

“We had amazing conversations with President Davis, and the good food was a bonus,” Lindsey Davis, the College of Education student dean, said. Some student deans said lunch with Davis was their favorite part of the day. 

Along with the activities and job shadowing, each student dean was allotted one resolution they could draft with their newfound power.

Some resolutions declared an elephant to be the University of Central Arkansas’s official animal, Goldfish snack crackers to be UCA’s official snack, making March 14 “Deans Appreciation Day,” and Temple even named their dog Noodle the Honors College’s official mascot. 

At the end of the school day, around 3:30 p.m., the student deans came together with deans and SGA members to have a reflection and resolution signing. They explained their resolutions, most with comical reasonings, and shared their experiences throughout the day. 

The reflection session was held by Makenna Goss, who serves as a CAHSS senior representative for SGA. 

“Whatever reason you applied, I hope you got out of it what you wanted,” Goss said to the student deans before she segued into quizzing them about their day. 

She asked them about their favorite sessions, what they learned from the deans, and what their biggest takeaways from the day were. 

“I learned deans do way more than we thought,” Wilchie said, “some deans teach classes on top of their dean duties when they don’t have to do that.” 

Other student deans mentioned similar things, like how deans have to communicate with each other consistently and that the deans “seem to do it because they genuinely enjoy it, not for the paycheck.” 

Hannah Malone, the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics student dean, encouraged students to get to know their deans and become acquainted, admitting that she regrets not introducing herself to her dean sooner. 

The day was a bona fide success according to everyone involved. Mark your calendars and watch your emails because the next Dean for a Day will be in Spring 2024.