News

Story written by Alex Freeman 

MCC Communications Coordinator 

Jodi Bennett, the new Dean of Arts, Sciences and K-12 Programming at Montcalm Community College, brings more than three decades of education experience and a deep passion for student success to her role. 

Fresh out of her undergraduate studies in elementary education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, Bennett was hit with a large serving of culture shock. 

Her first teaching job was at Audubon Technology and Communication Middle School in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Teaching inner-city eighth-grade students, the school environment and demographic was a stark contrast from Bennett’s private catholic education in which she was raised. She quickly realized that many of her students, set to enter high school in a year, were struggling to read above a second-grade level. 

“Most of my students were very much gang-entrenched, so it was definitely a learning curve, growing up in a very sheltered, Polish, white, catholic community,” Bennett recalled. “It certainly formed who I was as a teacher.” 

Bennett was forced to adjust and meet her students where they were rather than trying to force a curriculum on them. It was during her four years at Audubon that her teaching career took shape and her passion blossomed. Her driving force in her teaching career has been her undying goal to provide students with the most quality education possible. 

“This is my 33rd year in education and everything I do is for students,” Bennett said. “That’s something that I’m so passionate about.” 

Bennett planned to stay in K-12 education throughout her teaching career and helped enhance her instruction ability by obtaining a reading teacher certificate from Marquette University. When re-enrolling at Wisconsin-Whitewater for her graduate program, she decided to go in a direction other than education, choosing to major in communications. 

Her master’s degree opened the possibility of teaching collegiately and, when her three young boys encountered health problems in their youth, she made the decision to leave full-time K-12 education and start adjunct teaching communications courses for area colleges. Bennett has taught in communications for 22 years, the last 20 of which were full-time at her alma mater, and has a wide range of specialty classes, including public speaking, gendered communication, family communication, conflict resolution and interpersonal communication, among others. 

While she wasn’t planning to leave her full-time position as senior instructional staff and instructional designer at Wisconsin-Whitewater, a perfect storm of events took place to lead Bennett to join MCC. 

She recently obtained her Doctor of Education in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education from Alverno College in Milwaukee. She had already planned to move to Montcalm County to be with her fiancé, Randy Bennett, who she’s set to marry at the end of August. While she could have still taught online classes remotely, she wanted to make use of her new doctoral degree. Upon hearing about the open position at MCC from a close friend, Bennett was floored at how perfect of a fit it could be. 

“It was only up for a week, so I had to scramble to get everything together,” Bennett recalled. “Because I really wasn’t looking for a job. I hadn’t even defended my dissertation yet; I was teaching, I was in a long-distance relationship, I was driving six hours one way. When I saw the job listing and I went down the list, I could put a checkmark next to everything and I’m like, ‘I think this job was made for me.’” 

Bennett was relieved when her former employer was supportive and happy for her in her pursuit of the new job. Throughout her interview process, Kevin Wagenmaker, MCC Vice President for Academic Affairs, was very impressed with Bennett’s personality, professionalism and qualifications. 

“Dr. Bennett stood out immediately for her engaging personality and experience in both higher education and K-12 settings,” Wagenmaker said. “She brings expertise in instructional design, leadership, and curriculum development, along with a strong background of in-person and online learning. Her ideas for strengthening K-12 partnerships, supporting campus initiatives and fostering cross-department collaboration will benefit both students and faculty. Beyond her impressive qualifications, Dr. Bennett’s warmth and approachability make her a natural fit for MCC!” 

Dr. Bennett’s position is a new one at MCC, which Wagenmaker said reflects the evolving nature of the college’s academic and strategic priorities. 

“The role was created to bring more focused leadership to our transfer-oriented academic programs while also strengthening relationships with our K-12 partners,” he said. “Over time, the needs of our academic divisions have grown, particularly in areas related to dual enrollment, general education, and faculty support. We recognized a gap in leadership dedicated specifically to the arts and sciences as well as the oversight and development of our K-12 partnerships. This new dean role allows us to better serve both traditional and dual enrollment students, while ensuring consistent academic quality and alignment with college goals.” 

With Bennett’s mix of K-12 and collegiate teaching experience, she’s confident in her teaching acumen, which she hopes to share and provide input to MCC faculty members regarding their existing practices. 

“I want people to know I’m here to support them,” Bennett said. “I’m not here to necessarily spy on them or anything like that, but I’m also here to see what they’re doing and if they’re doing something great, we’re going to shout it out. And if there’s areas we can improve upon and I have the ability to help improve upon it, that’s what we’re going to do because we’re here to make education the best it can be for students. 

“I want people to come in and tell me about themselves and ask me questions,” she added. “What do you want to know? How can we do this together? What can I do to support you? What are some of your struggles and what can we do to make your life better and make you want to come to work more? That’s the kind of communicator I am.” 

With Bennett’s numerous years of experience in instructional design, she plans to be present in online Canvas courses and looks forward to assisting faculty members with how to set them up to best deliver the information to students. She also plans to be present in the local K-12 schools to show additional support to MCC’s dual enrollment adjunct instructors. 

“I know that’s something that’s been a missing piece, and I want our adjuncts to know that they’re just as important being out in our high schools as the adjuncts as the people on our campus are,” Bennett said. “It’s our campus curriculum that’s being taught all over and we’re giving high school students a great opportunity. I want to be there to support them but also to let the schools see that MCC cares about you and we’re going to be there.” 

Bennett is looking forward to getting to know MCC’s faculty members personally, building relationships with them and being able to collaborate with the sole focus of providing students with the best education possible. 

“If I’m going into classrooms, if there’s discussions to be had, we’re going to have discussions,” Bennett said. “And it’s not going to be to scold anybody, but how can we do better if we need to do better? How can we lean on each other and how can we use each other’s talents? I’m not here to necessarily change what’s comfortable, but I am going to challenge everybody to maybe step out of that comfort, at least a little bit, and see what you can do differently to make education better.”