Meet Carol Edwards, Ph.D.

BY PATTI SMITH PHOTOS BY RICK COOPER

Carol Edwards was completely content with her position as Texas Tech University’s Dean of Visual and Performing Arts when a search committee from Florida State University came calling. “I loved what I was doing. I wasn’t sure I wanted to leave, but looking at options is something that I’ve always done,” says Edwards. “I’ve been very fortunate to be an educator in higher education. These are the best and brightest students we surround ourselves with every day. That’s a blessing that should never be underestimated.”

When she was contacted, it was the first time she heard of the job opening. The committee flew her to the first interview and soon after invited her to FSU Panama City to talk with campus leaders. Edwards is the fifth dean and first female to hold the position at FSU Panama City.

“This position has brought me full circle,” says Edwards, who earned her doctorate in art education from Florida State University in 1992. “I had developed roots here.”

During her doctorate program, Edwards worked as a research assistant and rode the university van from Tallahassee to Panama City to teach art in elementary schools in Bay County. It was during those visits that she learned what it meant to the community to have FSU, an elite research university, close to home.

“It allowed me to understand the importance of this campus. People who came to classes here didn’t have to leave jobs. They didn’t have to leave family,” she says.

Edwards knows how important that is because she has uprooted her life several times to pursue higher education and professional growth. Her husband, Joe, has been her biggest encourager and supporter. He first left his job to go with her to the University of Alabama, where she earned her master’s in art education. Then, he left another job to go with her to Florida State. He earned his bachelor’s degree at FSU at that time.

After earning her doctorate, Edwards was hired at Kennesaw State University just outside of Atlanta where she held various teaching and administrative positions for ten years, including dean of the College of the Arts. In 2004, West Washington University sought her out to become professor and dean of the College of Fine and Performing Arts. “Friends told us we were crazy for selling our home and moving across the United States,” Edwards recalls. “If you don’t avail yourself of certain opportunities, when doors are there, they won’t open for you.”

In 2007, it was time to make another decision when Texas Tech wooed Edwards to become a professor of art education and the dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Edwards had been offered many jobs in between, but she always has an intuitive sense about whether to accept or decline a position. Her intuition is telling her now that she will retire to Panama City Beach, where she and Joe bought a beachfront condo.

At first, Joe wasn’t sure if he wanted to live right on the beach, but his wife had spent so many summers visiting her family’s cottage on Lake Ontario that waking up to the Gulf view gave her a sense of home. Watching families enjoying themselves at the local beaches and making memories is pretty special, too, the couple knows now. They look forward to welcoming their daughter Angela, a kindergarten teacher, and her family to their new home. “Joe was kind of ambivalent about it, but now that we’re here he says, ‘Carol, you were right,’ and I love hearing it,” she smiles.

Her work includes the development of plans for growing enrollment at FSU Panama City Campus and erecting the newly-planned student dormitory. It’s all part of the plan to help students see FSU Panama City as a destination and not a transfer point.

To accomplish the campus’ goal of 5% growth each year, Edwards and her staff will look at new recruiting methods, evaluate programs offered, and create new degrees. Plans for the first residence hall, a 250 to 300-bed facility with first floor retailers and restaurants, are in the works and could be finalized by the end of the year.

“If I could wave my wand, what I would like to see is for it to open in the fall of 2017,” says Edwards who approaches this job as she does her entire life, with forward thinking and by listening to her intuition.

 

[author image=”https://www.panamacityliving.com/media/2014/07/Patti-Smith.jpg” ]Patti Smith is an award-winning professional writer and editor with more than 25 years experience in U.S. markets including Metropolitan areas of Connecticut, California, Indiana, Kentucky and Florida. She currently writes columns, features and faith testimonies for local and national publications. She believes everyone has a story to tell and that others’ lives may be changed or enriched by reading it. She is married to a devoted husband, mother to three amazing children and grandmother to one precious grandchild.[/author]