Mary Anne Hanner, the final candidate for the permanent dean position of the College of Sciences, discussed her experience as an educator and administrator in an open forum Thursday afternoon in the Booth Library Conference Room.

Hanner, acting dean of the College of Sciences since 2000, expressed the pleasure she has derived thus far from her career at Eastern.

“Many of you have known the work I’ve done at Eastern,” she said. “It has been a great and rewarding experience. I don’t really think about it as going to work.”

Hanner emphasized that her perspective as permanent dean as opposed to acting dean would not change.

“Pretty much (with me), what you see is what you get,” Hanner said. “I wouldn’t expect my approach to change.”

She said she will continue to rely on the administrative team she works with for input.

Addressing how she will make the most of scarce resources as the economy continues in its downfall, Hanner said it is difficult at this stage to discuss the allocating of resources “since we don’t know what resources we have.”

As far as allocating those resources, Hanner said it ultimately “revolves around the department and a matter of knowing the priorities throughout the department and college.”

On the other end of the spectrum, productivity in teaching can be defined by student credit hour production while research productivity is really defined by department level and peers, she said.

Hanner received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in speech pathology from Eastern and earned a doctorate in educational administration from Indiana State University.

However, she said her extensive knowledge of Eastern tops off her lengthy list of qualifications.

Hanner was the last of four candidates to interview for the open dean position. The search committee will now deliberate and pass it’s recommendations on to the vice president for academic affairs.