By: Tejay Cleland, Editor-In-Chief
The search for a new Vice President of Academic Affairs is over. Newman has named Alden Stout to fill the position left vacant when Kimbery McDowall Long resigned last spring after five years in the job.
Stout has been serving as the associate vice president of academic affairs at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa, since 2018. He has been a part of the faculty at Morningside for 10 years.
He has served as director of assessment and accreditation, grants director, dean of the school of arts and sciences and director for Morningside’s undergraduate degree completion program. Stout also taught philosophy-based courses before his administrative roles. Before Morningside, Stout received his PhD from Purdue University in 2010.
Stout said he plans to take on his new role with a student-first mindset.
“The number one key factor is serving the students,” he said. “The purpose of what everybody at universities goes to work to do is to give you, the students, the opportunity to learn, grow and succeed.”
President Kathleen Jagger said she feels Stout is a great fit for the job because of his work prior to his administrative roles.
“He’s been a faculty member who has received awards for assessment and for advising, so I think he gets what it takes to be an excellent faculty member,” Jagger said. “As the leader of the faculty, that’s really important to me.”
Stout said that he was drawn to Newman because of the school’s sense of community and excitement about the future. Another factor that was appealing was the university’s mission and code, Stout said.
“The kind of involvement experience that students get at Newman is really unique,” Stout said. “It really does make a difference in transforming their lives and helping them transform the lives of others.”
Sioux City, Iowa, shares borders with South Dakota and Nebraska, so Stout said he is especially excited to get to Wichita to some warmer winter temperatures.
Jagger also said that Newman is expecting to soon fill the open Dean of Students position, which Christine Schneikart-Luebbe vacated when she accepted the job of Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Success when Paul Carney retired from that role. They’ll likely have someone hired by the start of the spring semester, she said.
PHOTO: Courtesy Photo, Alden Stout
