Scott Olson, dean of Ball State's College of Communication, Information and Media since 1998, is resigning effective July 1 to accept the position of Vice President of Academic Affairs at Minnesota State University.
Olson said Tuesday that he was contacted by the same "head hunter," Ted Lewis, that Ball State used in the presidential search that brought Blaine Brownell to Muncie.
"A couple of months ago he called me and thought that I might be a good fit for this position," Olson said. "He asked if I would be interested and I said, 'Yeah, I'd be interested.'"
Eventually, Olson was invited to visit Minnesota State's campus to talk with some students, deans and the president, Richard Davenport.
After visiting the campus, Olson said the next round of the selection process was a four-hour interview with Davenport and the other candidates in the Minneapolis, Minn., airport. In that time frame Olson said Davenport would throw different scenarios at each of the candidates to see how they would react to certain situations.
Olson said he found out he was selected for the position a couple of weeks later.
With his admiration for Ball State, Olson explained the decision to take the job did not come lightly.
"This has been an incredibly meaningful job for me. And, you don't usually hear administrators say this, but it was fun," Olson said. "I adore the faculty, I adore the students here and will miss them all terribly."
More than anything, Olson explained the decision to move was family-based.
"The decision to go elsewhere doesn't have anything to do with Ball State," he said. "We love Ball State.
"It's the right thing for my family and its evolution. I grew up in Minnesota," he said. "Where we will be is about three hours from a cabin that we have up there. It's about an hour from the Twin Cities where we have some friends," Olson said.
With Olson's departure from Ball State scheduled for just over a month from now, Beverley Pitts, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said there may be an interim dean named within the next week.
Pitts also said that come fall there will be a search committee that will conduct a national search for a new dean for the college.
"We are very supportive for this grand opportunity for him," Pitts said of Olson's decision. "We are sad that we won't have his leadership any longer, but we are also happy for him."
Pitts said she had been involved with Olson's entire process but received his official letter of resignation Wednesday morning. The job opening at Minnesota State was posted on March 17.
Olson doesn't worry about leaving the program in someone else's hands as he feels it will be a sought-after position. Ball State's CCIM was created in 1996 and is among the nation's 10 largest colleges of communication in student enrollment.
"It's a great college," Olson said Tuesday. "I think that there will be a lot of people who would love to be the dean here. When they do the search next year I don't think they will have any problem finding candidates who want to be the dean of this college."
Many consider Olson instrumental in landing a $20 million grant in 2001 from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. It was the largest grant in school history and helped to create the iCommunication initiative, a program to help students prepare for high-tech careers in digital communications.
Olson's next place of employment, Minnesota State University, was founded in 1868, has more than 13,000 students and is home to over 1,300 staff and faculty. The school is home to six colleges: allied health and nursing; arts and humanities; business; education; science, engineering and technology; and social and behavioral sciences.
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