Aimee Shouse, SMSU’s new Dwwean of the College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences, started on Jul. 3. In those short three months, she has already come to enjoy Marshall as her new home.

“So many people say that SMSU is like a family, and that’s very much been my experience here,” Shouse said. “I wasn’t expecting just how quickly SMSU would become my new normal! People are genuinely friendly and welcoming, and you can’t walk across campus without people saying hi.”

Shouse is working to learn as much about SMSU as possible. She explains that every college has its own culture and ways of doing things, and she wants to learn about SMSU’s.

“I want to get a sense of what is going on, what’s going well, and what could use some attention,” Shouse said.

However, one thing that she does plan on doing is communicating with students how valuable a liberal education is to their curriculum.

“Regardless of one’s major, the skills you learn in your liberal education courses will carry with you for the rest of your life,” Shouse said. “The ability to communicate effectively, think creatively and critically, work with a diverse group of people, [and] to understand the physical world will contribute to your ability to adjust to the world as it changes.”

As Shouse makes plans for SMSU’s future, and adjusts to the new pace that comes with being a dean, she also pushes her fashion-field daughters to create more brown professional clothes for women. With Shouse’s leadership, SMSU will soon have an even brighter future, and more clothing options that represent our school colors.