2008 Woodie Awards
Interim dean juggles endless meetings, bureaucracy with humor
Experience in interaction with students, social work and counseling helped
By J.A. Garcia
Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: Features
Originally published: 10/25/07 at 1:40 PM CSTLast update: 10/25/07 at 8:14 PM CST
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Mendiola, a native of the Rio Grande Valley and eldest of six girls, has worked at this campus for 15 years.
With a Bachelor of Arts in social work from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Science in social work from the University of Texas at Arlington and being a licensed master social worker, Mendiola is experienced in dealing with students and administrative work.
At this college, Mendiola started as a disability support services adjunct counselor, then worked as a counselor for the women's' center.
She then moved on to serve as coordinator for the student development department, then coordinator for Strategies for Success.
Before becoming the interim dean of student affairs in August 2006, she was the director of the Title 5 Grant.
"I think experience in all of those different areas has helped me in this role," Mendiola said.
When asked if she has made any changes as dean, Mendiola said no, but she has been dealing firsthand with changes in the department that were implemented before she became the interim dean.
Two of those changes were dividing counseling and services for special populations into three departments and implementing the student activity fee.
For the most part, Mendiola said the division of the department, which was decided by the area, has been a positive move. "I think it's a good thing when something comes from the ranks," Mendiola said.
As far as implementing the student activity fee, Mendiola said it has allowed for a lot more activity in the area of student life than before. "It's a wonderful opportunity for students to take advantage of extracurricular offerings that weren't available before it existed."
So far Mendiola said her biggest switch as dean is how she functions as a professional person, jokingly adding that her position has caused her to go to the most meetings ever in her life.
When asked what the difficulties of her job are, she said her biggest frustrations have been working with the bureaucracy because it takes longer to get things done and there are hoops to jump through to make decisions.
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