Q&A with Frank D. Golom, Ph.D., ’04, the dean of Loyola College

Can you share a bit about your educational and professional background and how you became the dean of Loyola College, the University’s school of arts and sciences?

I have always been interested in leadership and change, and that’s what I’ve been studying and practicing since my undergraduate days at Loyola. There’s this infamous statistic that 2/3 of change efforts usually fail, and another claiming that the No. 1 reason people leave their job is their boss. You cannot have a successful modern organization without effective change management and effective leadership, and so I’ve committed my adult professional life (so far!) to doing what I can to advance both causes. I saw an opportunity in Loyola College to help lead change, and so I applied for the dean role.

What does a typical day look like for you in your current role as dean?

There’s a running joke among psychologists that says that when you ask a psychologist a question, the answer you get is always, “it depends.” But it really does depend! My favorite days are the ones where I get to work directly with our department chairs and faculty to enhance the experience of our students. Whether it’s exploring a new curricular initiative or program, or finding ways to expand student access and opportunity, the faculty and chairs in the College are smart, committed, and deeply thoughtful about the work they do. Any chance I get to interface with them, or our students, is an honor and a privilege.

What, in your opinion, are the benefits of a liberal arts education?

To me, the real benefit of a liberal arts education is that it allows you to develop a deep understanding of the human experience and use that understanding to create positive change in the world. Liberal education is expansive and rigorous, but more importantly, liberal education is transformative, both for our students and for the communities they will enter after Loyola. There are many reasons to study the liberal arts, but to me, the primary reason is that the liberal arts, no matter what you study, make you a more critical and creative thinker, a more innovative and inspired problem solver, and a more ethically-minded and informed steward and citizen. We have so many challenges as a society that need deep thinking, deep empathy, and deep leadership. Liberal education has always been the best preparation for that deep work.

Any hopes/dreams/visions for elevating the liberal arts?

I have been very fond of asking the question, “What differentiates a graduate of Loyola College from a graduate of another professional or pre-professional school? What is our value-add as a college?” I’ve gotten a lot of responses to this over the last year, but what I am most taken by is this idea that we help our students cultivate a broad array of intellectual talents and skills and match them to the problems the world needs solved. And, if you have not noticed, the world has no shortage of problems. To me, the best liberal arts education is one that can foster the deep critical thinking skills that allow our students to adapt to an ever-changing world. That’s why liberal education has been around for as long as it has, and why I think the liberal arts are more relevant today than ever. My role as dean and my vision for this position are to be able to articulate clearly and to anyone who will listen that a Jesuit, liberal arts education is exactly what is needed to face and solve the challenges we encounter every day, both individually and collectively.

Can you describe your role in the University’s strategic planning process?

Someone recently referred to me as the conscience of the Strategic Planning Steering Committee, which is a really thoughtful way of saying that I was responsible for developing the internal data collection strategy that would eventually inform Loyola's strategic plan. I worked with some of the best people at Loyola, including my co-lead Wendy Bolger, to gather, synthesize, and summarize the opportunities, aspirations, and frustrations of over 1,700 members of the Loyola community, and then use that information to help influence the shape of the strategic plan. It was an incredibly weighty undertaking, and we took the responsibility of honoring and representing the voices of Loyola community members very seriously.

You chose Loyola twice. Once as a student and again as a faculty member. Why?

I once told President Sawyer that I think Loyola is one of the few institutions left where the relationship between the student and the faculty member still matters. I believe that strongly. I experienced it first-hand as a student 24 years ago, and I feel it every day as a faculty member and administrator. I would not trade the work I do with and for our students for any other work in the world.

Describe Loyola in three words.

When we are at our best, Loyola is an inspirational, transformative, and deeply relational community.

What’s your favorite spot on campus? Why?

There is no contest. I know it is a beautiful campus, and I am fond of sitting out on the Quad or Humanities porch, or roaming around campus to visit the different departments and offices within Loyola College. Anita Major in the dean’s office jokes that they need to put an Apple AirTag on me because I’m frequently running around. But my absolute favorite spot on campus is Starbucks. I spend a lot of time meeting and chatting with people over coffee. A lot.

What are your high-level future goals for Loyola College?

There was this great opinion piece in The Washington Post a few years ago that said the world does not need more STEM majors; it needs more STEM majors with liberal arts backgrounds. I was quite taken with this framing. I see a need for liberal education everywhere I look. My goal for Loyola College is to reinvigorate Loyola’s already outstanding liberal arts education, connect the liberal arts to other areas of the University in innovative and interdisciplinary ways, and ensure that our curricula never stop striking that balance between relevance and rigor.

Are there any new initiatives or programs you’re particularly excited about?

We have been working with our partners in the Sellinger School of Business and Management to explore a joint scholars program between Sellinger and the Humanities. Our friends in the School of Education and I have been talking about developing new programs in autism studies or applied behavior analysis. And Loyola College itself is working on new programs in environmental sciences and studies and a possible biomedical engineering concentration in engineering. We also are heavily focused on ensuring that we have a robust set of experiential learning opportunities for all Loyola College students, including research, study tours abroad, creative apprenticeships, field experiences, and internships, and that we remove any access barriers that would prevent students from participating.

As a graduate yourself, what advice would you give the alumni community about staying connected with Loyola after graduation?

There’s that stereotypical letdown line, “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” If I think about the advice I would offer our alumni, it would be, “Please call us. Don’t wait for us to call you.” If you have an idea for a program or initiative, want to lend your talents to volunteer or mentor a student, or just want an update on your favorite programs or professors, I will talk to you at any time. One of the things I very much want to accomplish in my time as dean is to increase the College’s engagement with our alumni, and building and recommitting to those relationships is the best way to start. I know no one uses the phone anymore to make phone calls, but don’t hesitate to email or reach out.

Outside of your professional life, how do you like to spend your time?

I have a serious love affair with walking aimlessly around cities, iced coffee in hand and my AirPods in my ears, music playing. I can do this for hours. I have done it for hours. It's pure joy.

What’s something your colleagues might be surprised to learn about you?

I am pretty vocally, and deeply, committed to my identity as an organizational psychologist, but people may be surprised to learn that I wanted to be a meteorologist when I was growing up. I may or may not have watched The Weather Channel for hours at a time and had my own hurricane tracking software.

Best book you’ve read recently?

David Brooks’ How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen. Talk about a testament to a values-based, liberal arts education. It’s clearly, critically, and deeply empathically written.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers that was not covered in the questions above?

I have a colleague who likes to ask job candidates how they learn. My answer to this is that I read, and I talk. I want to talk to as many people as possible about their ideas for Loyola College and the liberal arts, and to help bring those ideas to fruition. Coffee is on me, anytime.