Professor voices School of Communication’s poor leadership with faculty, staff

One anonymous professor told The Panther the faculty in the School of Communication is unsure of what Dean Lisa Sparks is doing, and said they get “reprimanded for asking questions about what’s going on.” Panther Archives

Christie Wong told The Panther Oct. 11 she needed a reminder to remember the actual Dean of the School of Communication this semester.

“I forgot that Dean (Lisa) Sparks was the dean and I thought Jennifer Waldeck was still the dean,” said Wong, a junior strategic and corporate communications major. “I felt like (Waldeck) was a lot more involved.”

Sparks’ tenacity in her stint as dean has led to new program development within the School of Communication, said Waldeck, last year’s interim dean. However, since Sparks’ decision to pursue a congressional campaign in the spring, communication students and faculty alike have criticized her for poor communication.

One professor in the School of Communication spoke to The Panther under the sustained condition of anonymity to avoid employment retribution. They told The Panther the faculty has at times felt unaware of the school’s initiatives with Sparks back at the helm this semester. According to them, the school was looking to hire a new faculty member as the head of diversity. Professors knew nothing about the initiative until the week before, they said, when they were told someone was being interviewed for the position.

“That’s been a pattern that we’ve seen with Dean Sparks, where she doesn’t really keep us in the loop of what’s going on,” the professor said. “We are communicated this information with very little notice, and when we ask questions, they either don’t get answered or we get reprimanded for asking questions about what’s going on.”

Provost Glenn Pfeiffer told The Panther a discussion that “wasn’t public” took place soon after Sparks’ run for Congress, planning for a “transition” within the position for Dean of the School of Communication. That was due, Pfeiffer said, to the conflict of interest that could arise between her candidacy and her Chapman post. He made it clear that the situation wasn’t related to Sparks specifically – just the fact that a Chapman employee was running for office. 

“When a faculty member runs for office, we have to be very careful about that, because anything you say in the campaign might be misinterpreted as representing the university,” Pfeiffer said.

Pfeiffer emphasized that Sparks was in no way, shape or form pressured to step down from her post. Rather, Pfeiffer told The Panther that Sparks was looking to move on from her position, given her decision to run for Congress, and he had conversations with her about what she’d do next. After returning as dean in the spring, Sparks announced Sept. 24 her retirement from the position at the end of the academic year. 

Sparks’ perceived lack of communication and decision to step down appear to have created uncertainty about the school’s future leadership, despite the community support for Waldeck to assume the position. Sparks did not respond to The Panther’s request for comment.

“Right now, as things stand, we don’t really know what she’s doing,” the professor said of Sparks. “If Dr. Waldeck becomes dean, I don’t see us being (this confused).”

The Panther obtained a letter written in the spring from students in the School of Communication. The message was addressed to Waldeck and Pfeiffer, praising the interim dean for her handling of a semester clouded in confusion due to the emergence of the coronavirus. Seventy-eight students endorsed the statement, which commended Waldeck’s “compassionate and capable leadership.”

“Dr. Waldeck, you have sincerely gone above and beyond your duties as dean to not only ease our concerns as students but furthermore to implement effective plans of action to address immediate issues despite your short tenure in the position,” the letter read. 

Waldeck told The Panther Oct. 8 that she’s uncertain whether she’d reclaim the dean position after Sparks retires. Waldeck was surprised to hear of Sparks’ resignation and praised her achievements in the position.

“We owe Dr. Sparks a lot of gratitude for the resources she’s procured that enabled us to become a school and build our two graduate programs,” Waldeck said. “We’ve been able to do a lot as a result … so this is the end of a nice era and a transition to the next step of the school.”

It remains to be seen exactly what that next step will look like. 

This is a developing story. Follow The Panther on social media and at www.thepanthernewspaper.org for updates.