This series highlights the associate deans within the Barefield College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Office. Each post will highlight an associate dean, their role, what they love about Barefield and more!
Dr. Albert Pionke is the Associate Dean of General Education and Academic Affairs in the Barefield College of Arts & Sciences. He is also the William and Margaret Going Endowed Professor of English in the English department and the interim chair of Theatre & Dance.
Where did you receive your degrees?
I earned my BA in English, French, and Humanities from Valparaiso University (the one in Indiana, not Chile), followed by my MA and PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (the one in the cornfield, not the city).
How does your position as associate dean serve the College/faculty/students?
I am the AD for (almost) all things undergraduate, which means that I oversee the Academic Misconduct and Academic Grievance processes; the online, interim and summer course approval processes; and the coordination of the College’s very substantial (roughly 80%) contribution to the University’s general education curriculum, including the new college compass course. I also work closely with the Office of Student Services to make sure that all undergraduate majors, minors, concentrations and certificates are being proposed, approved and reviewed thoughtfully and expeditiously. In addition, I assist departments with accreditation and program review and with negotiating the challenges posed by generative artificial intelligence applications for the College’s research and teaching missions.
If you were in college right now, would you have the same undergraduate major or would you change it? (If you would change it, what would be your new major?)
As my list of undergraduate majors suggests, I was interested in a lot of subjects as an undergraduate. Even now, I could still imagine myself pursuing all of the prospective degrees on my original long list, which also included Geography, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Religious Studies and Sociology. Perhaps New College plus Blount would be the only way to give myself a reasonable chance of graduating in one lifetime.
If you could take a class in Barefield, which one would you take and why?
I’m first in line for almost any class with the “Special Topics” label attached to it. These courses are often experimental and weighted toward the peculiar interests of a particular faculty member, which makes them passion projects for whoever is teaching them.
What is your favorite thing about the Barefield/UA campus?
BCAS is the largest (most student credit hours taught, most faculty, most staff) and most intellectually diverse (most degree programs) college on campus. We touch every student, and we often pilot new programs that are adopted by the larger university. I appreciate our productive chaos, because it makes us an innovative leader for the full campus.
What is your favorite artwork in Woods Quad or in BCAS buildings?
Visible out the back window of my office is Joe McCreary’s “Goldie 1971” (the recumbent iron giant), whose 23 feet of slowly oxidizing metal helps me to put my problem-of-the-moment into a longer timescale, generally making it feel more manageable.
Who is your favorite fictional professor?
As a specialist in Victorian British literature and culture, my favorite professor is probably Diogenes Teufelsdrockh, the protagonist of Thomas Carlyle’s Sartor Resartus, not least because attempting to understand him leads Carlyle’s perennially confused narrator to articulate an ethics of laughter: “The man who cannot laugh is not only fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils; but his whole life is already a treason and a stratagem.” And we could all use a few more honest laughs.
What advice would you give to a current Barefield student?
Be curious. You may never have this same opportunity to learn so much wonderfully weird stuff under the guidance of experts whose job it is to share what they know and to invite you to be part of creating new knowledge.