We invited North Central College’s three academic deans — a political scientist, a medical doctor, and an information systems scholar — to reflect on the North Central College experience and the responsibility to foster the next generation of leaders. What followed was an engaging and wide-ranging conversation.
Like many of its peer institutions, North Central historically had structured its academic programs under one chief academic officer: a vice president for academic affairs who also served as dean of the faculty. That changed in 2016 with the establishment of the College of Arts and Sciences; the School of Business and Entrepreneurship; and the School of Education and Health Sciences, with each unit led by a dean. We hope you enjoy this roundtable discussion with Dr. David Green, Dr. Mary Groll and Dr. Stephen Maynard Caliendo (pictured above, from left to right).
Q: Dean Caliendo, you arrived here in 2005 and later helped lead the transition from one to three distinct academic units. Looking back, what has that change meant to North Central?
SMC: A decade ago, it was clear that higher education was changing quickly and would continue to change. In a new era, we needed to have a structure that would prepare the College for growth and visionary leadership. That was only going to happen if we had more than one chief academic officer. As the inaugural dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, I oversee the unit that traces back to antiquity in terms of the notion of a liberal arts education. But we infuse the liberal arts across all of our degree and professional programs at North Central. The new structure has enabled us to expand and launch new academic programs throughout the institution to meet the evolving needs of our students and the community beyond campus. Examples include adding an undergraduate engineering program in the College of Arts and Sciences plus an array of new offerings that David and Mary are overseeing in their respective schools.
Q: Dean Green, you just completed your first year at North Central. What attracted you to the College and what has surprised you?
DG: While interviewing, I felt an immediate connection to North Central, especially after meeting faculty and students and seeing the vibrant campus life. The focus on teaching was also a big draw for me. Teaching is primary here; faculty really impact students. However, what surprised me was the level of mentorship. It’s an expectation that is even included in faculty job descriptions, which isn’t common elsewhere. The role of faculty as mentors is valued alongside the traditional areas of teaching, scholarship and citizenship.
Q: Dean Groll, you came to the College in 2019 as founding director of the Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies program. You then served as department chair before being named dean in May 2024. What has the transition from physician to medical educator to higher education leadership been like?
MG: Something the liberal arts instill is a commitment to lifelong learning and growth. You evolve as a person, as a professional, and everything you've experienced in your past feeds the present. Moving from founding program director to dean was unexpected, but also deeply rewarding and incredibly humbling. As a physician, you work one-on-one, with the patient at the center. Transitioning to a medical educator was similar, except the student is now at the center. In the dean role, while the student is still the focus, the faculty and community are also part of the system you've been entrusted to lead. You must listen more than you speak and discern when things aren't very clear. Requesting wisdom and feedback is a daily occurrence — staying humble, persistent and gritty at the same time.
As a physician, you work one-on-one, with the patient at the center. Transitioning to a medical educator was similar, except the student is now at the center. In the dean role, while the student is still the focus, the faculty and community are also part of the system you've been entrusted to lead."
— Dr. Mary Groll
Q: In your leadership role, what lessons or learnings do you draw on from your original discipline?
MG: At the core of medicine is human flourishing, and you radiate from that — including keeping relationships as healthy as possible. You also bring training in systems-based practice. A hospital, like any college, exists as an ecosystem where each domain impacts the other, and the only way to improve is to study the system and engage in the issues in a way that respects the humanity of all involved. Another lesson is decision-making under pressure: being able to make tough calls that are data-informed as much as possible. And because things constantly change in medicine, you need to stay up on your craft. So again, there is that commitment to lifelong learning.
DG: Management information systems is the lens through which I look at things. It’s a discipline that looks at how people, systems and processes are connected. You examine how organizations operate and how to achieve organizational goals and performance. It’s very interdisciplinary because it’s about the glue that holds the organization together to help achieve everyone's goals while considering the intended impact on the other side. Another lens I use is data analytics. Being data-informed means knowing not only the data but also the people, the context — because the true impact doesn’t always show up in the data.
SMC: I also study systems, including one of the largest: the United States government. I’m constantly reminded of the larger picture — why it all matters. If you think about the sciences in concentric circles, the outer level is the universe, which is the realm of physicists and philosophers. Then closer to self is where social science sits. There’s also the notion of power relations, which matter a lot in any organization and in society. Whether we want power relations to matter or not, we get to decide.
Q: What do you observe is unique about North Central faculty and their relationships with students?
SMC: Our faculty are exceptional for many reasons. We attract them because of our location, the strength of the institution, and our clarity about who we are and what we value. Faculty choose to come here because they truly are dedicated to working with students.
MG: These relationships are so important for students. You see how faculty genuinely care for their students and have faith in them. Our faculty are intellectually curious. They teach and model a more just and humane world. They're responsible in their civic duty to their community. They bring that to their teaching and interactions with students.
There's something called adverse childhood experiences. The more you have, the more they can impact your future. But your community can mitigate the negative effects of adverse childhood experiences by helping you build resilience. The brain isn’t fully developed until about 26-27 years old, so if students have a positive experience, a lot of healing can happen during the undergraduate and graduate years.
DG: New faculty coming in know the expectation in terms of faculty and student interaction. It's embedded in the culture, and you see it when you meet alumni who have stayed connected to faculty and staff long past graduation.
You see how faculty genuinely care for their students and have faith in them. Our faculty are intellectually curious. They teach and model a more just and humane world. They're responsible in their civic duty to their community. They bring that to their teaching and interactions with students."
— Dr. Mary Groll
Q: What are some ways that alumni can get involved in the programs you oversee?
SMC: Alumni can help tell the story about the value of the liberal arts and what their North Central education has meant to them, no matter their degree or major. Most jobs today didn’t exist 20 years ago, and we can't even imagine what jobs will look like in 20 years. It’s important for students to see that the classes they take now are going to prepare them for success in the future.
MG: Our programs rely on community-engaged learning. At the end of the day, our students have to learn one-on-one in the community. Our education and health science alumni are vital to placing our students in real-life settings. That includes serving as clinical preceptors to train our students in healthcare environments. Guest lecturing is another way to get involved. We welcome alumni who are willing to speak to their contemporary practice and share their academic experiences. And we always need alumni to assess our students’ skills, whether in the classroom or a simulation lab.
DG: We have a growing need for internship opportunities for our students, and of course we encourage alumni to hire our students for full-time employment. Financial support is also always appreciated — for example, to make enriching events and experiences like student competitions possible.
Q: What is your favorite occasion on campus?
DG: This spring, I attended my first Honors Convocation here, and it was very affirming to see the strong connection as faculty introduced students for each Outstanding Major award. Hearing our faculty talk about every student’s growth, interactions, campus involvement, and their future plans was very special.
MG: Whenever you see a group or a community come together in such a unified way, it really commands a blessing. That shared sense of humanity is incredibly powerful. I agree about Honors Convocation. I also love the processional tunnel and clapping in and out at Commencement. The faculty have given so much to see the students transform, so the achievement is shared across the generations.
SMC: For me, it’s Commencement — when students are lined up in cap and gown as they clap in the faculty. I step back at that moment and watch who the graduates look for in the line. Afterward, there’s the moment when the new grads take their first steps outside, each holding their degree. The reverse happens as faculty clap the students out. I watch again as students look for the faculty members who meant so much to them. There are usually tears, hugs and high fives. It reminds us that we made a difference.”
Q: What does North Central's mission look like in practice, in your area?
SMC: One of the first things we did as the College of Arts and Sciences is write a mission statement that stems from the institution's mission statement. Arts and Sciences faculty were all in one room together, in conversation about our shared mission. I'm proud of what came out of that. We haven't changed our mission statement since. It’s in keeping with the liberal arts as the ancient tradition of educating citizens for what they need in their lives. We often think of “liberal” in the political context, but the word comes from the Latin liberalis, which means “free” in reference to free citizens — people who aren’t enslaved or imprisoned, who are free to become prosperous.
DG: The School of Business and Entrepreneurship also has a mission statement. Having everything flow out of that makes us successful and helps everyone move in the same direction. We emphasize positive impact on society through business, and you see that as we develop new initiatives tied to ethical leadership and purpose-driven societal impact, whether through a business or social innovation.
MG: In the School of Education and Health Sciences, faculty and students play out aspects of the College’s mission in various ways in their discipline, and we also very intentionally teach students to be team members within and across multiple disciplines. You see the engagement of our curious, ethical faculty with our students, who then leave this campus and — having been part of our community — go on to have impact at more than 550 affiliated clinics and hospitals across the U.S.
Q: What is a challenge you face now and some ways you’re addressing it?
DG: One is ensuring our students have the technology skills they need, whether related to artificial intelligence (AI) or other tools, while also fostering human intelligence. It’s vital that we help students develop their own critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. We continue to be innovative and think about the best ways to ensure we deliver a curriculum that prepares students to do whatever they want to take on in life. It helps that everyone is committed to the liberal arts and being consistent with our mission. We work in an engaged, interconnected way. I think about the Coffee Lab, which is a business school program that pulls in students from many different majors and is not only about business but also about sociology, ethics and international studies.
MG: Machine learning is already being embraced in a hospital setting. We have to find the right balance between preparing students to work in that environment but also be able to stand on their own two feet without an algorithm telling them what to do next. It's an opportunity and a challenge. Also, healthcare education depends on community-engaged learning; our students learn one-on-one. We always need to be able to place them in hospitals and clinics, where they can learn from a strong group of committed community-based instructors.
SMC: Our biggest challenge is the gap between what employers say they need — like critical thinking and communication skills — and the troubling narrative we hear in public discourse that devalues higher education, particularly the liberal arts. That narrative is inaccurate not only in terms of what employers want but in terms of how we learn and how skills develop. We need to help parents and students understand that but also develop programs like our four-plus-one MBA, which is a way for students majoring in the liberal arts to earn a bachelor’s degree in four years, then earn an MBA from North Central in one year. Infusing the traditional liberal arts makes every program better, more holistic, but you need collaboration to make it happen. I couldn't ask for better colleagues to collaborate with; you often do not see this level of generosity and shared vision at other institutions.
Q: Why should prospective students consider attending North Central?
DG: I point to interdisciplinary opportunities. Our students can try many different things; you're not stuck on one narrow path. We have students majoring in English who are part of the Student Accounting Society and math majors involved in our Bulls and Bears finance club. I talk about our vibrant student life, our career readiness program that's embedded in the curriculum, community-engaged learning opportunities, and small class sizes that enable you to interact directly with faculty.
SMC: If you have a variety of talents and interests and you don’t want to have to give something up in college, come to North Central. This is where students continue to expand their experiences. You will be able to play varsity athletics and be in a music ensemble. Sure, you can study engineering elsewhere. But you're not going to act in a play, and you may have to wait until your third year to take meaningful engineering classes. At North Central, you’ll take them in your first year.
MG: I talk about faculty. I’ve never met more dedicated faculty. Our programs are relationship-based; that’s the ethos of North Central — why students choose to come here. Also, we’ve created a niche in our community. You see that across education and the health sciences when our graduates get hired in the community. For example, half of our physician assistant graduates had a job offer before even sitting for accrediting exams.
Q: What is your favorite spot on campus?
SMC: Mine is Old Main Plaza. There are always people gathering and walking through, especially on a beautiful day. Sometimes musical ensembles play there in the afternoon, which is lovely. My oldest daughter attended North Central, and there is a commemorative brick for her in that space. I like to sit outside there, do a little work, and watch the activity while thinking about the years that she was on campus, which were a real joy for me.
MG: My favorite space is the covered bridge near the Wentz Center for Health Science and Engineering parking lot and Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium, connecting our campus to the Naperville community. It’s like a portal connecting the past and the future.
DG: As I walk to my office in the morning, I love the view going from Oesterle Library toward Goldspohn Hall. As you look south toward campus, you get a full view of the variety of trees and really see how beautiful the campus is.