2008 Woodie Awards
SSU welcomes new Dean with new ideas
Nathanial Garrod
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: News
|
That problem will soon be remedied through the Department of Extended Education, which is now under the leadership of Dr. Mark Merickel, the new Dean of Extended Education.
Merickel was born in Minnesota, but grew up in Ventura. "Southern California became what I knew as life," said Merickel. He then declared that the statement was not supposed to sound existentialist.
Merikel earned his Bachelors in Technical Education from Fresno State University in 1970. For several years after that he spent time teaching, and then in 1978 he earned his Masters degree from Fresno. It was over a decade later when he earned his Ph.D in 1990 from Oregon State University.
With his credentials in mechanical design, drafting and architecture, Merickel taught public high school for 16 years in San Andreas. He lived there with his wife, Colleen, and his two sons, Jesse and Duncan.
"I loved it," said Merickel of the whole high school teaching experience.
Merickel and his family moved from San Andreas when it was time for him to earn his doctoral degree.
Once he earned his Ph.D., he began working at Oregon State University in order to help their College of Education improve its integration of teaching and technology. He had a tenure track position as a professor preparing teachers. He also worked with research and masters theses.
In 2000, the Oregon State University unit hired its first Dean, who wanted to run an integrated distance-learning program. Merickel was involved with building the whole system from the ground up. He took on the roll of Associated Dean, and eventually became the Associate Provost due to his success.
Merickel and his team accomplished a great number of things during his time there. Among those accomplishments were the online availability of five undergraduate degrees and eight online masters programs.
Be the first to comment on this story