Wegner Named Freshman College Dean

Wegner, who has served as the interim dean since Jan. 1, oversees the Freshman College, which includes components designed to help freshmen make the transition to college-level academics and remain in school until graduation. Those components include:

• Pre-declared Advising – for students who have not yet chosen a major
• The Tutoring Center and Math Lab – offering study skill strategies for more than 100 courses
• Supplemental Instruction – peer-led group study program
• Up & Coming Scholars Program – focusing on San Angelo area high school students
• Early Alert Program – to identify and assist struggling students
• Signature Courses – to familiarize freshmen with campus resources and encourage them to form bonds with their professors and classmates

The Freshman College dean reports to Dr. Donald R. Topliff, ASU provost/vice president for academic affairs.

Dr. Don Topliff “Dr. Wegner has been instrumental in the development of the Signature Courses that all incoming freshmen are required to take,” Topliff said. “This past fall semester, there were 50 sections of that course, a key in our retention efforts at the university. I admire his dedication to and advocacy for our students, particularly the new freshmen.”

A tenured professor of English, Wegner is a native of the Texas Gulf Coast who earned his doctorate at the University of North Texas. He served as the director of ASU’s Undergraduate Research Initiative from 2012-15 and was director of ASU’s Center for Innovation in Teaching and Research from 2010-14. He has served as the faculty athletic representative, a liaison between athletics and academics to ensure the well-being of student-athletes, for the past five years. He also was interim chair of the Department of English for 2008-09.

Wegner came to ASU as a specialist in research writing and has expanded his publishing experience to include fiction. In January, he published a collection of short fiction, “Love Is Not a Dirty Word, and Other Stories,” through Lamar University Press. He has previously published short fiction in New Texas, Journal of the American Studies Association and ASU’s Concho River Review literary journal. He has also published articles on Cormac McCarthy, Juan Felipe Herrera and other American writers.

Wegner is the second dean of the Freshman College, which was founded in 2012. The first dean, Dr. Andrew Wallace, an ASU professor of physics, stepped down to return to his faculty role.