By Matt Kurnick
"When I need support in teaching it's there; support for research, it's there; great colleagues to work with, service opportunities, it's really the perfect institution, like the perfect job." — Dr. Jeff Bakken, Chair of the Department of Special Education at Illinois State University
(September 8, 2009) As clear as the windows in his office overlooking Redbird Arena are, Jeff Bakken, chair of the Department of Special Education at Illinois State University, strives to maintain that kind of transparency in his department.
Bakken was officially named the department chair January 1, 2009, after serving as the interim chair for 18 months. In 2008, after teaching numerous special education courses at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level for 13 years at ISU, Bakken was ready for a change in his career, one that would provide new challenges. Then, the chair at the time decided to go back to teaching and the dean called a meeting with the Special Education faculty to find a possible replacement.
Up to that point, Bakken had taught under two different chairs throughout his tenure at ISU, and from Bakken's perspective they both made sure of two things which were vital to the department's success. The previous chairs had all maintained a sense of transparency in running the department. They deliberated on their decisions with the faculty and staff, the people who would be most immediately impacted by them. In doing so, they created and maintained a tight-knit group of faculty and staff.
"I was ready for some different responsibilities, but I wasn't sure being the chair was for me," Bakken said. "But when I heard they'd consider going outside the department I decided to put my name in the hat. I see our department as one of the more cohesive units on campus. Collaboration is huge in teaching, we work on research projects together, and the productivity is unbelievable. My thought was 'Wow, if someone comes in here from the outside and decides to just change things around who knows what would happen to our existing departmental culture?'"
Bakken has done well transitioning from his faculty position, where he was named the Outstanding University Teacher at ISU for the 2002-2003 school year, the Outstanding College of Education Teacher for the 2001-2002 school year, and the Outstanding College of Education Researcher for the 2000-2001 school year, into his new administrative role despite several differences. Between budgeting, scheduling courses, managing grants, sitting on committees, and acting as a representative of the department, Bakken's schedule is a lot less flexible than when he was a professor.
Bakken is also in a position now where he is responsible for directing the progress of the department. And without the faculty in support of his guidance, the department wouldn't go anywhere.
"Being a faculty member helped because I always knew how I wanted to be treated, and I was happy with how I was treated. I've tried to extend that to faculty. Right away I invited people to come into my office and talk to me. I've tried to involve faculty in most of the decision making. Hopefully the faculty would think the environment is open so they can share their ideas, because it's ok to disagree. There's something to be said about our culture and environment. I want to continue that and meet faculty needs and support them."
In moving the department forward, Bakken has set goals for himself and the program which they have operationalized in the department's 5-year plan. As one of the largest undergraduate special education teacher preparers in the country, Bakken wants his department to be known less for the quantity of teachers it produces, and more for the quality of the teachers that comes out of the program. Bakken wants to keep his faculty as current as possible, keeping up with advances in content, technology, and any other new things in the field. Bakken has done his share focusing his research throughout his career on learning disabilities and special education practices. He is also striving for more gender and ethnic diversity within teachers.
The final goal, which Bakken is personally invested in, is getting more students to attend ISU from disadvantaged areas who want to become teachers. Bakken and his wife started The Jeff and Heidi Bakken Future Special Education Teacher Scholarship to make an immediate impact and eventually would like it to become endowed.
"My wife and I have developed a scholarship for special education students. We wanted to give back to ISU somehow for all they have done for us. We couldn't think of a better way than to help ISU students. I'm having money deducted from my check every month and placing it in a scholarship fund. Every year we will give one or two scholarships to help students who need it," Bakken said.
Bakken has already seen some of his goals start to come to fruition. Last year a number of students who took an assistive technology course before student teaching went out into the field and ended up teaching their cooperating teachers. Several of the teachers had new technology at their disposal but had no time or idea how to implement it into their teaching. The ISU students were able to utilize the technology and instruct the teachers how to use it.
"When the administrator comes back to ISU and tells me something like that I become very excited, because now it's really a back and forth relationship," Bakken said. "It's not just placing our students in their district. Now the teachers and administrators in the field are starting to see that not only are they getting an extra set of hands, they're getting students with knowledge and skill sets they don't have. The classroom teachers are learning from our students, which is awesome."
But all that Bakken has been able to accomplish and still strives to accomplish would not have been possible had he and his wife stuck to their original plan when Bakken started at ISU in 1995. Originally Bakken and his wife had planned on staying at ISU for three years and then moving closer to their roots in Wisconsin. As he got closer to being up for tenure Bakken convinced his wife to stay so he could get it, and hopefully make his next job search easier. After getting tenure, he started looking for places to teach closer to home.
"I kept teaching and kept enjoying it," Bakken recalled. "I did research, service, and so on. I found ISU to be a really well-rounded institution. I started looking and interviewing at some other institutions and every time I sat down I thought, 'Why am I leaving such a great place? Why am I going to an environment where there are a lot of unknowns, when I have pretty much everything I need here?' I sat down and reflected. When I need support in teaching it's there; support for research, it's there; great colleagues to work with, service opportunities, it's really the perfect institution, like the perfect job. Every time I came to the same conclusion, 'I'm not going to leave, I'm going to stay here where I belong.'"
Although Bloomington-Normal may not have started off as home for Bakken, he's found a home with a pretty good view in ISU's Department of Special Education.
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