{"id":16695,"date":"2026-04-17T14:25:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/?p=16695"},"modified":"2026-04-17T14:37:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T14:37:41","slug":"faculty-and-administration-discuss-the-future-of-the-department-of-social-sciences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/2026\/04\/17\/faculty-and-administration-discuss-the-future-of-the-department-of-social-sciences\/","title":{"rendered":"Faculty and administration discuss the future of the Department of Social Sciences"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Ryan Talton \u201927, staff writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the departures of Dr. Christopher Dolan, Dr. Phillip Benesch and Dr. Kathryn Whiteley, the Department of Social Sciences has been left with a very limited faculty. As other departments continue to grow, students in these programs have grown concerned about the department\u2019s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to his unexpected death, Benesch was the sole political science professor at LVC. Dr. Robert Anstett was hired on a one-year contract to temporarily fill Dr. Benesch\u2019s position. Jason Cleck was also hired for a temporary position to assist with Whiteley\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you have one person who is teaching an entire major, then it\u2019s economically efficient,\u201d Dr. John Hinshaw, chair of the Department of Social Sciences, said when asked about the current state of the department. \u201cIt\u2019s also vulnerable to its disruption if and one that person gets sick, moves on to a new job or retires. The more faculty supporting the program, the less vulnerable it becomes to those kinds of shocks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Laura Eldred, associate provost of arts and sciences, acknowledged that faculty and students are facing national and cultural headwinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNationally enrollment in social science programs has been trending down over the last 10-20 years, and some of this seems to be a perception that wages and job security are higher in other fields,\u201d Eldred said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Claire Gothreau will be starting in the fall as a full-time political science professor, along with Dr. Katie Mirance-Popelka in criminal justice. Eldred foresees a review of the department\u2019s curriculum, including new courses and co-curricular offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that hiring the right people, with the credentials and the passion to support our students and be innovative in curriculum, will put social sciences at LVC on a strong trajectory moving forward,\u201d Eldred said. \u201cWe remain committed to hiring faculty in areas of student need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ryan Talton \u201927, staff writer With the departures of Dr. Christopher Dolan, Dr. Phillip Benesch and Dr. Kathryn Whiteley, the Department of Social Sciences has been left with a very limited faculty. As other […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":16522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-campus-news","8":"category-front-page","9":"category-homepage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16695"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16697,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16695\/revisions\/16697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.lvc.edu\/lavie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}