CONNOR HOFFMAN
Staff Writer
Did you know one of our deans is a former track runner? That dean is none other than John Kijinski, of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Kijinski may no longer be a long distance runner, but he keeps up on fitness by riding his bike to work every so often. Being a long distance runner is one of the various things in his exciting life that led him to Fredonia.
Kijinski is very happy with his job at Fredonia. He believes his glory days are right now because he’s doing what he likes, and he feels great. He mentioned that his favorite experience before and after becoming a dean has been “working with the students” and that “people get into this profession because they want to work with ideas and want to work with students.”
Before Kijinski came to Fredonia, he used to be the dean of Idaho State University’s College of Arts and Sciences, where he stayed for 22 years before moving to Fredonia. Before that, Kijinski got his bachelor’s degree in English from Ohio State University, a master’s in English from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ever since he was an undergraduate English major, Kijinski wanted to be a professor, with no thought about being a dean — which, in Kijinski’s experience, is a position that he said often goes unrecognized.
“I could tell you right now who the chair of the English department was at Ohio State when I graduated. I could tell you who my thesis advisor was there,” joked Kijinski. “But if someone said, ‘Tell me the name of your dean and I’ll give you a hundred dollars,’ I have no idea who the deans were there.
“It’s a logical progression; if you’re dedicated to a particular liberal arts and sciences discipline, and you’re also good at talking with people and managing that, it makes sense to move to the dean’s position.”
Kijinski felt that the best part of his twenties was pursuing his education further.
“I think I must romanticize my own 20s because I think it was all great.” He mentioned how he was able to not have to worry about debt from his education due to his wife always being willing to work.
One of Kijinski’s favorite experiences before he became a dean was when he did research at The British Library in London.
“It was holding [a] letter George Eliot and Charles Dickens were writing to each other,” Kijinski said. He worked in the manuscript collection for a month on a grant.
When Kijinski is done with his day at the office, he goes back to his house that he has in Fredonia with his wife Karen. He also has two daughters; the oldest Katherine is in graduate school, and the youngest Margaret is in college.
Kijinski enjoys doing a multitude of things when he’s not being a dean. Some of these activities include biking, running, walking and reading. He loves reading so much that he made sure to mention it twice during a recent interview and jokes about how he reads all the time.
It was this love for reading that led Kijinski to get where he is today.