On Feb. 15, Brian Holloway joined Drury University as dean for the College of Graduate and Continuing Studies. Most recently, Holloway served as dean of graduate studies at Mountain State University in Beckley, W.Va. He was born in New York but has a background in the Midwest, having earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Missouri and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.
Q: What is the scope of your new position? A: Part of my job will be to look at the different programs we offer at the graduate level and in continuing education and in all the distributive forms. There’s the main campus and different (branch campuses), extension sites and also learning online. At (CGCS), that’s where it all comes together, largely for the benefit of nontraditional students. A lot of schools got into looking at nontraditional education somewhat late, but Drury actually started very early. It was offering classes at alternative times as early as the 1950s for those students who worked or needed to fit school around a different schedule.
Q: How does online learning fit into continuing studies? A: We’re in a world now where extended learning degrees are offered online through a platform like Blackboard or some other medium, or through a combination of online work, e-mail or voice communications. Harvard has an online extended learning degree. … So when we look at what’s happening in education and look at what we have to do in our normal lives, we have to figure out how to fit education into or around that. … Really, the cork is out of the bottle, and I think what you’ll see in the world of the future is a choice between various forms of learning.
Q: What does that mean in terms of teaching? A: It’s going to take different types of teachers. … Some teachers are great in a classroom but not good online. Others can teach through an online platform but aren’t good in a classroom. And just as it is with teaching, some people are going to learn better in one form over another. Given what I would call the great American desire for self-improvement, the thing is that people find a way to learn.
Q: What drew you to Drury? A: When I came out for a visit, I was extremely impressed. I think that there is a zest for the academic enterprise and a really strong supportive feeling for learning. I think I noticed right away that the students – I know it sounds silly – but students had pep. Not to say other places don’t have these things, but it’s something I noticed at Drury. And I’m not a stranger to Missouri. I spent my teenage years in St. Louis. My wife and I honeymooned in Branson. I think Missouri is a wonderful place.
Q: You’ve said you’re a “spiritual and cultural Midwesterner.” How would you describe the Midwest culture? A: My wife asked me that. I think I would describe it as the culture of middle America: not prone to extremes, forthright and without pretension. These are qualities I think you notice in the middle part of the United States. I think there’s a connectedness to the land, and certainly to the climate- – though we’ve all been experiencing a little of that recently – and it’s a good thing, that kind of understanding.[[In-content Ad]]
