The Martin J. Whitman School of Management will continue to host town hall-style meetings where students get to directly interact with Dean Ken Kavajecz.

Three meetings will be held this semester, each in the Milton Room in Whitman. The meetings will be held from 6–7 p.m. on Feb. 18 for seniors, March 3 for sophomores and juniors and March 4 for freshmen, said Lindsay Rapp, assistant dean of undergraduate programs at Whitman.

“We would consider adding more if necessary,” Rapp said. “We believe three town halls is sufficient.”

The town hall meetings were first held last spring as a part of a pilot program to give Kavajecz, who took over as dean in the fall of 2013, a way to communicate with undergraduate students and to promote transparency, dialogue and engagement. Kavajecz held at least one town hall in the fall of 2013 for graduate students and said because of positive feedback, he wanted to add more meetings.

“Town hall meetings are a good way to keep communication open with the students and learn what’s on their minds,” Kavajecz said.

Despite low turnout last spring, Kavajecz plans to continue these meetings every spring semester. Rapp attributes the low attendance to the newness of the program, which she says is common in pilot programs. Nonetheless, Rapp said Kavajecz always planned on offering the meetings each year during the spring semester, regardless of the number of attendees.

Kavajecz said that the most frequent topic that students wanted to discuss was future employment options. In previous semesters, students voiced concerns with smoking outside of Whitman and the organization of the Whitman capstone program.

However, Elizabeth Acosta, a sophomore information management and technology and finance major, said that she’s heard of people wanting to talk about things, including financial issues and the social environment at Whitman. Other Whitman students said they hadn’t heard about the town hall-style meetings.

The Whitman community, Rapp hopes, will be served by direct contact with the dean.

“The success of our school is dependent upon the continued partnership of the people within our community,” Rapp said. “Students are key partners and their input is highly valued.”

Published on February 11, 2015 at 12:01 am

Contact Rachel: rsandler@syr.edu