The Waynesburg University Department of Communication welcomed a new staff member in the Fall semester to strive for greatness for Design majors. Professor Lisa Rasmussen, who was a part-time instructor in the Department of Fine Arts since 2016, has now become a full-time instructor teaching for both the Departments of Fine Arts and Communication on a daily basis.

The Department of Communication chair, Richard Krause, hired Rasmussen over the summer to join the department after spending a whole school year searching for a suitable replacement for former professor Chad Sherman. Krause said that current students were influential in the decision to hire her because they had experienced a class with her.

“I had a conversation with several very talented students in my class,” said Krause. “They had a digital art course with a faculty member they really liked. And that faculty was a part-time person, so that became infamous for a joint position between Fine Arts and Communication.” 

 Rasmussen said that before she became an instructor, she had to take jobs where she could bring her young daughter since she was a single mother.

 As an instructor, she has taught at several different universities around the western Pennsylvania-east Ohio area. Rasmussen said, “Before I came here to Waynesburg, I worked part-time at Slippery Rock, Community College of Allegheny County, Carlow, Youngstown State.”

She said that being a full-time teacher is much better than being a part-time teacher because she had jobs outside of school where she could not spend enough time in person with her students. 

“It was kinda like I came in and taught my classes. If students needed me I would stay and talk with them,” Rasmussen said, referring to experiences as a part-time instructor. “But there were times that I could not stay and talk with them.”

Now that she has had a full semester in both the Departments of Communication and Fine Arts, Krause feels that there is a more mutually beneficial relationship between the two departments.

“We(Communication department and Fine Arts departments) had a good working relationship, but what we do now is way more involved from a curricular standpoint and personnel standpoint,” Krause said. “Lisa has a strong working ethic and is extremely motivated; I have been thrilled with the hire and have been very pleased with what we have accomplished over the past semester and four weeks.”  

Also, with Rasmussen joining the department, Krause said she will be in charge of getting design majors the right courses that she thinks those students need and assessing the courses that are not needed with that major. 

“She is the lead faculty member in the curriculum revision,” Krause said. “We are going to revamp the Digital Design major, we are going to reconfigure several courses, and we are going to add one or two new ones.” 

Rasmussen said, “It makes you feel like that students and other faculty members appreciate the dedication.”