Interview with Dr. Agnes Caldwell

By Neveah Schiffhauer

Here at Defiance College, Dr. Agnes Caldwell is the Executive Vice President and the Dean of Academics. Dr. Caldwell mentioned that she is the first person in her family to attend college and decided to pursue a career within higher education due to her love of reading, learning, and the overall college environment. Dr. Caldwell desired a position within college education because she likes working with smart, motivated people who like ideas and expanding their knowledge, as well as being able to help others do the same. She initially wanted to be a diplomat but was later encouraged to gain a master’s degree and then a doctorate. Caldwell mentioned that her close faculty members helped shape her future within higher ed, which then encouraged her to become a professor. Seven years into her profession, she realized how much she enjoyed being in administration, and so she took advantage as a faculty member to do so.

Dr. Caldwell also mentioned that when she became a college professor, she did not think about administrative work as a natural trajectory. She observed her passion for teaching good college classes that engage with students. Rather than lecturing, she teaches best by engaging with students in a learning environment. This brought into perspective for her that being an administrator works best with both faculty and students. As a result, a bigger picture and broader scope of creating a better environment as a whole here at Defiance College was born.

Dr. Caldwell chose Defiance College as her choice of a working environment because she loves that everyone here knows the overall mission and is committed to following through with that mission. She mentioned that not all college institutions have this drive and passion. She loves that everyone knows who they are and what they want to do. Caldwell also mentioned that she loves the “small, nimble community” at Defiance College that makes it easy for students to make schedules, and appointments with their faculty members.

The most challenging aspect of Dr. Caldwell’s role here at DC consists of personnel issues, which can be true to anyone within the role of management. These personnel issues consist of federal and state regulations, as well as figuring out how to navigate fairness and equitability for all. This challenge also consists of following the rules and regulations within the employee handbook. Caldwell said that these tasks are not necessarily difficult, but rather challenging and sometimes unexpected. On the contrary, Dr. Caldwell mentioned that the most enjoyable aspect of her career are the students who have hopes, dreams, intellect and drive. She absolutely loves being part of the small portion of her students’ journeys that help shape them; she mentioned this is very important and rewarding to her because you can never know how you’ve made an impact, but making an impact no matter how small, brings that enjoyable and rewarding aspect to her career. She loves motivating students and helping them through tough times, which is an important part of the four years spent at college. She also enjoys watching her former students become professionals and impacting other, as she has with them.

If there was one thing Dr. Caldwell could change about her current position, it would be the ability to have more time. She mentioned that this could be true for anyone, as there seems to never be enough time for what you want to do and how you want to do it. As an administrator in higher education, Caldwell recommends to college students in regard to their future professions that you do not have to be the smartest person in the room—but you do need to be the hardest working person in the room. Dr. Caldwell is a good example of this advice as she figured out that the choices you make about time, effort and staying focused on what matters is the best thing you can do for yourself and those around you. She mentioned that hard work matters in college even more than it does in high school. She said that it doesn’t matter where you come from, or how prepared you are, if you are willing to work hard, because this attitude will move you to the next level. She mentioned that the will to work hard will take you places in life and is the most important part of one’s success.

Dr. Calwell’s favorite aspect of being a part of the community of Defiance College is the McMaster Symposium and academic colloquium day because it is not usual for so many to get to observe the work that faculty members and students do on a daily basis. She enjoys this specific day because all she gets to do for eight hours is “bask in the glow of nerdiness,” and to her, nothing is greater than watching students and faculty share what they know.

Finally, Dr. Caldwell’s most valuable piece of advice that she would give to students at Defiance College is to always do your absolute best no matter the topic, or subject of the matter. Caldwell mentioned that when she was in high school, she turned in a paper and her teacher told her that she only earned an A- because she knew that Caldwell could do better. This was an important turning point for her as a senior in high school because it showed that teachers really do read and care what we as students write and express, as they see our natural potential and want the best for us. A teacher’s job as a whole is to help students reach their full potential. Caldwell finished this interview by stating that doing your best is the most important thing and is what gets you far in life. She also stated that the older we get and the more we know, we realize how much we really do not know. Wisdom comes with knowing, which is the fact that we really do not know everything we think we know, and reflection on what we don’t know creates a continuation of learning, wanting to know more, and striving to do better day by day.