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Monmouth College Academic Dean David Timmerman named Provost of Carthage College

During his eight years as Monmouth's chief academic officer, Timmerman led the College through innovations and improvements in several teaching and learning experiences

by Duane Bonifer

MONMOUTH, Ill. (06/06/2018) — David M. Timmerman, dean and vice president of academic affairs at Monmouth College, has been named provost and chief academic officer of Carthage College.

Timmerman, who helped implement several academic innovations at Monmouth and significantly bolster its strong faculty, will become the chief academic officer of Carthage, a private liberal arts college in Kenosha, Wis., on Aug. 1.

"It has been an honor to serve in the role as Dean of the Faculty at Monmouth College," Timmerman said. "I am proud of the advancements in the academic program achieved over the last several years, generated by the expertise and creativity of the faculty. I will depart with a grateful heart and great confidence in the future for Monmouth, which is blessed with a high quality and deeply committed faculty, staff and leadership. The Board of Trustees is surely among the very most engaged and generous of any college in the country."

A national search will be held to find Timmerman's successor.

During his eight years as Monmouth's chief academic officer, Timmerman led the College through innovations and improvements in several teaching and learning experiences, including the creation of the interdisciplinary Triad Program and a formal short-term experience known as ScotsTerms.

"David has been an important part of this community for eight years," said Monmouth President Clarence R. Wyatt. "He has accomplished a great deal with intelligence, kindness, humility, good humor, and integrity - all in service to a fierce commitment to the guided growth of young people through this powerful experience that is Monmouth College.

"We congratulate and thank David and his wife, Polly, even as we feel sadness for ourselves at the departure from the campus of two good friends and colleagues. Carthage will become a better place because of their presence, just as Monmouth has. We wish them Godspeed."

More than half of Monmouth's faculty were recruited during Timmerman's tenure.

"David has been a leader in efforts to build on the College's legacy of outstanding faculty, recruiting new teacher-scholars who have joined outstanding veterans," Wyatt said.

As its provost and chief academic officer, Timmerman will guide Carthage's educational programs and direct the allocation of its academic resources.

"One of the many ways that David impressed the Carthage community was in his deep commitment to faculty development, which runs alongside a devotion to students and an appreciation of the need to both honor the liberal arts tradition and innovate," said Carthage president John R. Swallow.

While at Monmouth, Timmerman and his colleagues secured grants from the Mellon, Lilly, and Margaret A. Cargill foundations to support innovations in the first-year experience and a range of academic initiatives. He also helped the College significantly revise its general education curriculum.

Timmerman's scholarship has focused on rhetoric in ancient Greece, and how rhetoric developed as a discipline in conjunction with the birth of democracy and the liberal arts tradition.

Timmerman has contributed to a number of books on the subject, most recently as co-author of Public Speaking and Democratic Participation: Speaking, Listening and Deliberating in The Civic Realm. Published in 2016, it addresses civic engagement at a time of increasing turbulence in the public realm.

After receiving a bachelor of arts degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, Timmerman earned a master of divinity from Denver Seminary and then a doctorate in communication from Purdue University. Before Monmouth, Timmerman taught at Wabash (Ind.) College for 16 years, receiving the McLain-McTurnan-Arnold Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2005.

Founded in 1853, Monmouth College is a nationally ranked liberal arts college of 1,100 students. Affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the birthplace of the women's fraternity movement, the college offers 34 majors, 33 minors, 18 pre-professional programs, and two innovative Triads in Global Food Security and Global Public Health.

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David M. Timmerman, dean and vice president of academic affairs at Monmouth College, has been named provost and chief academic officer of Carthage (Wis.) College.

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