Donovan new dean of students
September 13, 2007

Lacy Adams
Crusader staff

With her obvious Minne-soh-ta accent drifting down the hall it's not hard to hear the greetings of the new dean at Seward County Community College, Celeste Donovan. Her kind eyes and warm smile bring positive vibes.

As a stress buster, Donovan enjoys leisurely playing the guitar, Dixie Chicks’ songs mostly, hanging out in the backyard with her husband, relaxing walks and occasionally jogging and camping.

Sparks flew when she met her husband Kevin Donovan while she was working as a director, a counselor and in career services at Colorado Northwestern Community College in Rangely, Colo. She worked with students on team building, ethical decision-making and was the supervisor of 29 academic advisors. Kevin Donovan said his wife was famous for pickle making.

“We like to garden a lot,” he said. “Celeste used to be famous for her dill pickles she made. She would make 250 quarts worth a summer and give them to everyone for Christmas and birthdays, so I would hardly get any at home!”

The Donovans have two sons, Devon and Dustin. Dustin, who lives in Rangely, is married and has one child. Devon, who is 20, lives in Florida. Kevin expressed how lucky they were in adopting such great boys, Devon when he was 9 and Dustin when he was 13. Kevin said they made a choice to adopt older children.“Going through the adoption process was a good experience, usually the older children aren't immediately noticed and we didn't mind what the age of our children would be, so our sons are appreciative,” he said. Kevin hopes to work at the Ethanol Plant and is enjoying getting established in the community.

Donovan grew up in northern Minnesota, north of the Twin Cities, in a community consisting of 800 people and went to Menno High School. She was very active and was involved in track, basketball and was a candidate for homecoming queen. She attended South Dakota University which was a large school for her; she really had wanted a smaller community and atmosphere which was similar to a high school-like experience. She was on the women’s field hockey team and received her Bachelor of Science degree. She also went to Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where she earned her Master of Science degree and graduated in 1986.

In college her favored courses were psychology, genetics, abnormal psychology, team building and student leadership activities.

Her father was the director of a marching band, and she generally enjoys many types of music. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” sung by Judy Garland is one of her favorites.

“I'm not just trying to be a goodie goodie and say that because it's a typical Kansas song...I truly like Judy Garland.” Her father is a strong role model for her because, as she points out, he is an extremely respectable man who has taught her many of her strong traits. The marching band he directed won the South Dakota state competition. Of course, in a small town this was an incredibly celebrated achievement. Her father has suffered from cerebral palsy but has proven to be stronger than the doctors ever thought he could be. She lived on an Indian reservation with him, and he taught her how to acknowledge people's strengths not their weaknesses. He is still fishing and active, and she is proud of her father that he is doing so well.

Throughout college she worked at the Jefferson County Community Center as a job placement and transitional employment specialist where she taught people with learning disabilities about how to find the right fit of job for them and job skills in general. She worked as a career vocational placement specialist at the Community College of Denver as well. She began a program that helped the students with learning disabilities with their career choices and educated the others in her work force about the mentally disabled so that they could help as well. Before she came to Seward County Community College, she was the dean of students at Mesabi Range Community and Technical College in Minnesota.

SCCC President Dr. Duane Dunn said he thought the new dean would bring enthusiasm to Seward County Community College.

“Her enthusiasm about student success, her experience at community colleges, her desire to have open communication with her staff, her creativity and ideas of how to continue to improve our college, and her genuine positive attitude about education and students,” Dunn said.

Donovan got involved job wise with what she enjoyed doing when she was young. Beginning the summer after her senior year of high school, she worked at Mt. Rushmore. She drove a van for mentally disabled adults even though she had very little experience driving and was doing it as community service, so she was not being paid. She said she thought to herself, how hard could driving a van be? So she set off to conquer the job with confidence. When she had been involved in one too many accidents, her boss told her that she was too expensive of an employee so they had to fire her—even though she had no salary. She was a bit embarrassed that she had caused this much of a hassle, but because of her success teaching behavior living modification skills and her skill at teaching and working easily with the adults, they assigned her a different job.

She and her husband absolutely get a kick out of camping. They will hook up their trailer and drive until they find a spot and feel like stopping. They'll go to several different places in the summer— really wherever strikes their mood. Donovan doesn't tend to jog as much as she used to but did finish in the top 100 women in the Pittsburgh Marathon, which is impressive. Of course, Donovan did not mention it but her husband bragged on his wife for qualifying for the Olympics because of finishing in top 100 of the women.

Donovan said she likes her role as a dean, “I get to hang out with the students and help them figure out what they want to do with their lives—I wake up feeling lucky that I enjoy going to work and feeling great about my job.” Donovan has a way of charming those she meets. Dunn said he felt Donovan was a perfect fit for dean,“ I knew from our first telephone conversation that I wanted to have her visit SCCC for an interview, and that was based on her positive outlook about the importance of strong student support services. After the interview, I was sure that she would bring strong leadership, open communication, and creative ideas to help students.” Donovan also feels the fit at SCCC. “I believe in the mission of what community colleges are made for,” she said.

She relates to and is more familiar with an enclosed, smaller setting. By the end of year, what she wants from the students is for them to feel comfortable enough with her to drop by her office and see her about anything they feel they need to discuss.

Kevin feels more welcome than he ever could in Liberal. “It's been a really good move— we're incredibly happy to be here in this kind of atmosphere, it's the right kind of community for us. People in Minnesota were incredibly nice, but in Liberal they've been 10 times nicer...you notice it a lot here, I've already made as many friends here as I had in Minnesota in only a month's time.” Donovan thinks of herself as a crazy but other people describe her as a compassionate person. She wants nothing more than for the students to feel at home, comfortable and passionate to succeed.