Courtesy of Fredonia.edu
Roger Byrne as Interim Dean
S. L. FULLER
Editor in Chief
Before Dec. 26, 1981, Dr. Roger Byrne, Interim Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, had never been on a plane. But on that day, he took what he calls a “leap of faith” and flew from his home in Ireland to the United States. In the States, he had no family and just a few friends. But the promise of adventure and an opportunity to receive a doctoral degree lured him into taking the chance.
“It was crazy,” said Byrne, recounting his journey. “But it was the best thing that I could ever do at that time, I think.”
When Dr. John Kijinski decided to step down from his position as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Byrne, Associate Dean at the time, took his place. But this is not the first time Byrne has acted as a dean, and he says he thoroughly enjoys the position.
“The nice part about being in the dean’s position is that you get to learn and participate in all the efforts that take place in the disciplines that you are not as familiar with,” said Byrne.
The College of Liberal Arts and Science encompasses 15 different departments — the most of any College at Fredonia. But Byrne said that he welcomes the business.
“There’s a lot of things going on,” said Byrne. “So it’s enjoyable in that it’s never dull.”
Ironically enough, Byrne said that he wasn’t introduced to the idea of “liberal arts” until he became a faculty member at Fredonia. He studied zoology at Trinity College in Dublin for his his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, and never took any classes outside of his field of study.
“It’s a different educational system,” said Byrne of his college in Dublin. “And the idea of a liberal arts education was not the way in which that institution operated.”
While pursuing his doctorate at Louisiana State University, then doing postdoctoral work at the University of Calgary in Canada, Byrne still never needed to take courses outside of his field.
“So over the course of my time [at Fredonia], I’ve learned to appreciate — I’ve learned to understand — what the purpose [is] of having a breadth of topics that are covered within a bachelor’s degree and the liberal arts and sciences,” said Byrne, “as well as a depth [of knowledge] within a particular discipline.”
However, Byrne’s enthusiasm for his discipline is evident when he talks about invertebrates — specifically freshwater bivalves, which is what he did his doctoral work on.
Despite not having a background in liberal arts, he loves his job as the interim dean.
“As a dean … the nice thing is to be able to help departments and programs achieve what they want to achieve,” said Byrne. “You get a great feeling of satisfaction when you manage to do that.”
But Byrne said the one thing he will miss about being Associate Dean is advising and supervising the students participating in the interdisciplinary programs. He does, however, have some words of advice for students:
“Persistence. Things don’t always work out the way you want them to work out,” said Byrne. “But if you persist, good things can happen to you. So no matter how difficult it gets, find a way to keep going and things tend to work out.”
That’s how Byrne said he got through his time in college. While students may use Netflix to get through college instead, Byrne is no stranger to that either.
“Binging on Netflix,” said Byrne, admitting his guilty pleasure. “I feel guilty when it’s 2 in the morning and I’m watching it.”