Student Life Position Finally Filled

The Quest sat down with Tawana Parks one month after she joined Reed as our Martha A. Darling Dean of Students on Aug. 16, 2021. Parks is, in many ways, the kind of driven you’re likely to find anywhere on Reed’s campus. A Black woman and first-generation college student — neither of her parents completed high school — with two masters: one in applied physics, and another in science education. She spent the first 21 years of her higher education career at University of Michigan, Flint, and the last three years at the University of California, Merced. While working her way through a graduate degree in physics, she was placed in charge of a one week STEM education program for young students which served as an opportunity to empower students to think about STEM as a real possibility by classroom exposure. This work spoke to her deeply as one of only four women in her graduate physics program at Clarion University. The connection with students she found leading this program felt like her calling, and she decided to work at University of Michigan, Flint.

Parks was drawn to Reed from Merced because of her love for and belief in a liberal arts education. She attended Fisk University, a small liberal arts institution, for her undergraduate degree in physics. During our time together she recalled an experience when returning to Fisk for a reunion where she was greeted by an administrator in alumni relations who remembered her, her friends, and recounted some of the stories of their time there. That level of individual connection resonated with her. In remembering her undergraduate experience, the feeling of connection to her peers and of being drawn out of their collective educational comfort zones together still defines her understanding of a liberals arts education. When contemplating the classic question of “Why Reed?” her experiences as an undergraduate in a liberal arts college informed her views on what her work as an administrator will be here. She reflected on the joy it brings her to be one of the administrators able to help provide guidance to brilliant students who will go on to change the world or shape their field. The work that drew Parks to working in higher education was not handing students a book of the general experience of college, and urging them along that pre-written path, but aiding them in self-actualizing a more unique version of their time at Reed. When reflecting upon the interview process, she noted Reed’s culture of robust peer support among a high achieving student body as attractive when deciding on where to take her career next.

Like everyone, Parks joins Reed in a context, in her case one of flight. All over the country higher education professionals are leaving one role at one institution and taking up a different one at another. Throughout our conversation she often repeated the phrase “welcoming, connecting, mattering” as a framework for making sure that students find community while at Reed. When the questions turned to how she supports her staff, particularly staff of color who have disproportionately been those to leave Reed, her answer was similar: an emphasis on communication, community, and belonging. The reality that Parks is met with is a practical one; we are in an ocean of staff exodus with an unclear proximity to the shore. Staff of color who many students adored, like former Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) Director Ruby Joy White and former Students for Education, Equity, and Direct Service (SEEDS) Director Tara Sonali Miller left Reed in the same week, and Former Health and Counseling Center (HCC) Operations Manager Zakiya Rhodes’s recent departure from the HCC marks the loss of one of the few women of color to work in Student Life, and leaves Johanna Workman, who works as the HCC’s Director of Counseling, as one of the only Black women left at the director level. This lack of diversity in Student Life has been exaggerated after the Office for Institutional Diversity absorbed the MRC. Parks of course bears no responsibility for the climate of the department before she arrives, but it is contextually relevant amongst Reed’s attempts to form and retain a diverse community of qualified professionals.

The role of Dean of Students is still young. Parks is our second permanent Dean, and third to be in the role. The role of Dean of Students and its relationship to that of Vice President for Student Life is additionally very abstract, with part of Park’s job description being to “clarify and communicate the role of [Dean of Students] to staff.” When I asked Park about the specifics of her role, she said that she and McConnell-Black are splitting the responsibilities intentionally and that there would be some communication sent to Student Life in the coming weeks.

How the split system of Dean and Vice President functions rests on Parks and McConnell-Black’s budding relationship. The nature of how hierarchical the relationship ends up being — and what that hierarchy looks like — will be novel given the context of McConnell-Black having one year more at Reed than Parks, but Parks seemingly having 12 more years in student services. About as long as the roles of Vice President and Dean have existed separately, there has been a campuswide confusion around what exactly is the work of one and what exactly is the work of the other. This confusion will hopefully be alleviated as the semesters under Parks and McConnell-Black progress and once their roles are solidified and communicated to Student Life in the coming weeks. 

What the future holds for Parks as Dean of Students is far from certain, as the pandemic becomes softly endemic, climate change batters us with the occasional bout of lung-blackening smoke, and the institution continues to exist in a climate where competition for high achieving students seems fiercer than ever. Given the recent administrations of the student life department and their actions, the question remains on some students’ minds of what Student Life can do for them.

Parks brings with her to Reed all the love that can fit inside a chest, and all the business that can fit inside a briefcase in perfect measure and harmony. Throughout the course of our hour-long conversation, there was a case that she looked up to several times containing dozens of pictures of students she’d helped from her pipeline program all the way to Merced. She carries the students with her in her work every day. This kind of commitment to listening, feedback, and honesty are deeply necessary for the community at this point.