Michèle Cloonan, dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, says she is a dean because she believes in academic service and wants to promote research, teaching, and outreach. Cloonan describes Simmons as a place that has moxie, and a place that deserves to have more visibility for the quality of its education
- » former associate professor and chair of the department of information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles
- » areas of expertise include preservation of cultural heritage and book trade history
- » B.A., Bennington College
- » M.A., University of Chicago
- » M.S. and Ph.D., University of Illinois
WHAT SORT OF LEADER ARE YOU?
I am a servant leader. My focus is on people, work, and community. Success is all about people. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a slogan: "All lives have equal value." That is how I feel about the work place. The Graduate School of Library and Information Science has been successful because of everyone in the community: students, faculty, staff. Only by recognizing the contributions of everyone can you achieve value.
WHAT LEADER DO YOU ADMIRE AND WHY?
Vartan Gregorian is a leader whom I greatly admire. He is charismatic, compassionate, and smart. He has successfully led a diverse group of institutions: the New York Public Library, Brown University, and the Carnegie Foundation, and has one talent that I really envy: he remembers everyone's name!
WHERE ARE SOME MEMORABLE PLACES YOU'VE TRAVELED?
I have been to all 50 states, most of Europe, several countries in the Middle East, and several countries in Asia and South America. Spectacular beauty makes for one kind of experience: the Swiss Alps, Mt. Rainier, Highway 1 in California, the Dalmatian coast, the ruins in Petra, Jordan. But interactions with people are equally powerful. Joining an anti-war protest march in Osaka, Japan, in 1970 when I was 14; experiencing the coup in Moscow in 1991; spending two incredible hours chatting with a taxi driver in Detroit just recently; and hiking up to Roman ruins in the mountains of Lebanon with a Simmons alumnus.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES YOU SEE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION?
The number one challenge to higher education is the high cost of providing a good education to students. I travel a lot, and whenever people find out that I work in a university, they ask why college tuition is so expensive.
IF YOU HAD A DAY TO GO ANYWHERE OR DO ANYTHING, WHAT WOULD YOU DO AND WHOM WOULD YOU BRING?
The Sydney Opera House to hear a concert with my husband. I have never been to Australia.
TELL US ABOUT A TIME YOU FAILED AND WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THAT EXPERIENCE.
I am not sure that I can identify a specific failure. Rather, there have been many times in which I could have done something better. I am learning all the time.
DO YOU HAVE HOBBIES?
I collect fine-press books and enjoy any kind of movement classes like ballet, Nia, and Zumba.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WORD?
These two words have served me well: serendipity and deipnosophist. Serendipity has taken me on my journey, and on it, I have learned to be a deipnosophist.
