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CSUN College of Humanties Newsletter
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"In her new role as Associate Dean, Adams embraces the opportunity to work with her fellow administrators on university-wide initiatives to ensure that programs and curriculum best address the university’s overall mission and the needs of CSUN’s target student population"

 

Dr. Elizabeth T. Adams

Elizabeth Adams Associate DeanThe new Associate Dean for the College

Elizabeth Adams has been named the new College of Humanities Associate Dean, effective December 2008. This appointment represents a natural progression of her academic career. Adams received her undergraduate degree from American University in Washington, D.C. Initially drawn to American because she was interested in pursuing government work, Adams was won over by a history course she took in her first semester and instead headed down the liberal arts path. After graduation she worked full-time at the university’s research library, managing its circulation desk, while simultaneously working toward a master’s degree in English.

Her intellectual curiosity then turned toward the field of folklore, leading her to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Adams then taught for six years in the Anthropology Department at California State University, Northridge, where her liberal arts inclinations led her to the Liberal Studies Program. There she developed and taught two courses for the Integrated Teacher Education Program (ITEP) and, beginning in 2004, served four years as the Liberal Studies Program director. In this role, she oversaw the complete revision of all tracks of the Liberal Studies major, learned the ropes of academic administration, and became involved in statewide and national initiatives in innovative teacher training, including the Carnegie Corporation’s Teachers for a New Era project.

In her new role as Associate Dean, Adams embraces the opportunity to work with her fellow administrators on university-wide initiatives to ensure that programs and curriculum best address the university’s overall mission and the needs of CSUN’s target student population. She is pleased that her position as the college’s student liaison allows her to continue to keep in touch with this dynamic group’s needs. Adams is also delighted to be in a position to promote outstanding teaching and research among faculty members, having long enjoyed rewarding personal and professional relationships with CSUN’s dedicated professors. Finally, in this challenging budget climate, she acknowledges the idea that difficult decisions will have to be made, but promises in her collaborative role to make the best “hard” decisions possible, with the university’s core mission always in mind.

Not quite the PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE...with apologies to Vanity Fair and Marcel Proust.

The College of Humanities hired four new faculty members last Spring to join the ranks of their fellow esteemed colleagues in the  Central American Studies Program, and the departments of  Chicana/o Studies, English, and Philosophy. They have relocated  from Florida, Michigan, New York and Texas to join our regionally focused and nationally recognized university. Having traveled from such distances to come to CSUN, asking them to take the Proust Questionnaire was probably the easiest task they’ve undertaken their first semester.

The celebrated French writer, Marcel Proust, is considered to have created the greatest questionnaire of all time (Some skepticism exists around whether Proust actually created the questionnaire or if he’s just credited for making it famous because a record of his answers continues to exist.) We greatly appreciate the faculty’s sense of adventure for allowing us to print their responses and we hope you’ll find the answers from our new faculty as fascinating as we did! 

They were asked to answer at least ten of the following questions:

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Which historical figure do you mostly identify with?
Which living person do you most admire?
What is your favorite journey?
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Which talent would you most like to have?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it  be?
If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what  do you think it would be?
What is your most treasured possession?
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Who are your favorite writers?
Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
What is your motto?

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
—Marcel Proust

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Picture of Marcel Proust
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