Alumni News | Dalager Named Dean of School of Natural and Social Sciences

Dr. Jon Dalager has been named as Dean of the School of Natural and Social Sciences at Wayne State College. Dalager received his bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota at Morris, his law degree from the University of Minnesota, and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

"I wanted to work for a school that was committed to providing outstanding opportunities to its students, that was financially stable, and had an excellent reputation as a college or university," Dalager said. "I also wanted to work at a smaller liberal arts college where the students and faculty knew each other."

He has been a member of the faculty at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ky., since 1996 and has been chair of the Department of Political Science since 1999. Dalager has extensive experience in campus governance and has served as the faculty representative to the Board of Trustees, the chair of the Social Sciences Division, the chair of the Curriculum Committee, the chair of the Institutional Effectiveness Committee, and has served on a number of other committees and task forces.

"I was most impressed with the people I met during my campus visit. They were all very dedicated to Wayne State College and I look forward to working with the faculty and staff to continue to bring good programs to the students and to develop new academic programs so that Wayne State can keep its students prepared for the global economy and changing technologies," Dalager said.

As an expert in higher education law, Dalager has published articles and made presentations on legal issues in faculty recruitment and hiring, faculty evaluation procedures, and the legal significance of the faculty handbook.

Dalager said he grew up in a college town of 5,000 residents (Morris, Minn., home of the University of Minnesota at Morris), so Wayne will be very much like going home.

"My wife grew up in Breckenridge, Minn., which had a population of 3,500, so she is familiar with small towns as well," he said. "What makes Wayne special is that it will provide a small town atmosphere with the extraordinary opportunities provided by the college, and it is still relatively close to larger cities such as Sioux City and Omaha (Morris was 4 hours from Minneapolis)."

"I like to do a lot of activities with my children including skiing, camping, hiking, fishing, and traveling," Dalager added. "I used to play golf when I was a lawyer and am looking forward to returning to that activity, and I am a huge soccer fan. I watch my daughter play and I am a fan of Manchester United in the English Premier League. I am looking forward to the World Cup this summer (Go USA!)"