CAC names dean of art and social sciences

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PINAL COUNTY – Central Arizona College has promoted Terri Millison Ackland to dean of arts and social sciences.

The promotion was recommended on Dec. 17, 2007, and was officially accepted by the Pinal County Community College District Board of Governors on Jan. 8 during its monthly governing board meeting.

The dean position is one of five created under the administrative restructuring process underway at Central Arizona College. The goal of the restructuring is to provide higher quality, more efficient educational and community services to the residents of Pinal County.

Ackland has served as a full-time professor at the institution since 1996 and has been part of the CACe family since 1990. She is anticipating the completion of her doctorate degree in community college leadership from Walden University in Minneapolis, Minn., by December.

Ackland earned her master of English from Arizona State University in 1993 after graduating in 1990 from the University of California at Davis with a bachelor of linguistics. She minored in Spanish language and linguistics.

A community college graduate, Ackland earned her associate degree in English/foreign language in 1976 from the Metropolitan Community College District in Kansas City, Mo.

From 1991-1996, Ackland served as an adjunct professor and Learning Center assistant before accepting a full-time teaching position at Central’s Aravaipa Campus. She moved to the Signal Peak Campus in 2000 and became the communications division chair from 2001-2006.

During her tenure as chair, she increased division faculty by 33 percent and hired 11 new faculty members in response to the full-time student equivalency growth.

“I have extensive experience in business, learning development, English Language Learning and multidisciplinary education,” Ackland said. “I am truly dedicated to facilitating learning in Pinal County and beyond.”

She is another example of a current member of the CAC family who was immersed in the daily activities of the institution and has now accepted a major leadership role.

In addition to her teaching career, Ackland is certified in multiple academic disciplines and experienced with supervision and planning as an academic division chair. She is familiar with the development and assessment of courses and programs, and has experience in budget development, course scheduling and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Ackland has experience in college leadership, strategic planning groups, grant applications, community outreach, and educational technology and distance learning.

Previously she served as an adjunct instructor with the graduate college at Northern Arizona University and began her educational career in 1985 as a tutor, classroom aide, test proctor and math teaching assistant at West Hills College in Coalinga, Calif.

Before entering the educational field, Ackland worked for the Kansas City Board of Trade in the field of agribusiness from 1972-1984. Her business background includes trading floor clerk, options trading accounting, grain accounting, public relations, rail logistics, daily radio broadcasts of closing market prices, daily commodities trading reports to Commodity Futures Trading Commission and executive secretary.

She has won numerous honors at Central Arizona College, including the George Fridell Award for Teaching Excellence (2006), NISOD Award for Teaching Excellence (2006 and 1999), and President’s Outstanding Faculty Award (1999).

Ackland has built strong ties with the Pinal County community, supporting organizations such as The Zonta Club International, RTA Hospice, Optimist Club, Friends of the Library, and the United Way of the Casa Grande Valley. She is currently serving on the finance committee of the United Methodist Church of Casa Grande.

A native of Kansas, Ackland attended high school in Atchison, Kan., and Alexandria, Va., before returning to Kansas City, Mo., from 1971-1984. She spent six years in California before settling in the Casa Grande Valley in 1990.

Submitted photo