Dionne Felix, now serves as the new associate vice president for academic administration at Southern Adventist University.
The position opened during the 2017-18 school year after former A.V.P.A.A. Volker Henning announced he was leaving Southern to serve as vice president of academic administration at Walla Walla University.
According to Vice President of Academic Administration Bob Young, the hiring process for the position took six months. It included a 10-member committee and multiple job postings in various publications, as well as personal recommendations.
Fifteen people were initially selected, which were then narrowed down to six applicants for video meetings and then just three for on-campus interviews.
“Dr. Felix was chosen to fill the position because she was the top choice among those involved in the search process, and that choice reflected her outstanding academic and work preparation for the role she would fill as the Associate Vice President for Academic Administration,” Young said.
The A.V.P.A.A. is in charge of many parts of the day-to-day operations at Southern. These include, but are not limited to, working closely with the vice president of academic administration, serving on committees, and works with academic policies, in addition to a large variety of other tasks.
Young said that even though she has been working at Southern for a short time, Felix has acclimated well and is a good addition to the administrative team.
“Dr. Felix has been delightful to work with,” Young said. “Anytime a person moves to a new institution and into an administrative role there is a steep learning curve. She is learning the Southern culture and practices adroitly as one would expect of a candidate with her academic background and experiences. She is a good and perceptive listener; a trait that serves well in the role she has at the university. I’m personally grateful she accepted the invitation to join the Southern family.”
Felix joins her daughter Sauiri, a junior psychology major at Southern. Sauiri said that having her mom work for the school is how some would expect.
“Everyone always asks me if it’s weird having mom on campus because of how their own moms would be, but the thing is, she’s not here as a stay at home mom — she’s here as an academic VP, which means she has her own work to be doing, so she doesn’t necessarily have time to always be running after me, not that she has to.” she said. “She does her thing and I do mine. I still go visit her in her office, and she’ll pick me up to take me home for lunch or dinner sometimes, but we’re not always in each others faces. To be honest, it’s actually kinda comforting having my mom here.”
Felix was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago before moving to the United States. While here she has received multiple degrees in communication, English and education. She then worked for over 17 years in roles at Oakwood and Capella Universities, the University of Alabama and Calhoun Community College.
In her new job, Felix believes that she brings a unique and diverse perspective to the administrative team, not only as a woman of color, but as a Caribbean, as an immigrant as as someone who has taught at institutions outside of the Adventist network.
“The fact that I’m a women of color is just one of a myriad of perspectives that I bring, not the only one, nor is it the most important,” Felix said. “I think collectively they allow me to bring hopefully a very useful and viable perspective as we look at trends affecting the university and at possible ways to deal with and mitigate problems that we might have. I have a good mixed bag of experiences I can share as we figure out the future of Southern Adventist University.”
Felix wants students to feel free to ask questions and request help with any issues they may be facing
“We’re here to help. A lot of times I find that students won’t answer a questions because they already assume what the answer is going to be because of who they must address the question or because of the office that that person represents. But I want the student body to know that I’m here to help. I may not have all the answers but I will try to find the answers. I can’t promise that I can fix all the problems, but I do promise to that I will listen with as much of an unbiased ear as possible and of course with God’s help.”