Academic Spotlight: Associate Dean of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Dr. Julie Minnaugh

Dr. Julie Minnaugh supports Southern New Hampshire University as a senior associate dean of liberal arts and social sciences. She holds a bachelor’s in English from the University of New Hampshire, a master’s in English Education from Boston University and a doctorate in higher education and leadership management from Walden University. Recently she answered questions about how she got into higher education, how she connects with students and more.

Can you tell us about your professional background?

I am part of the academics department at SNHU global campus, supporting leaders and initiatives within the liberal arts and social sciences academic teams. I come to work excited to:

• help empower humanities students to understand and promote the broad industry value of their education
• inspire faculty and staff to create authentic and meaningful mentorship moments with our learners
• create and nurture spaces where we all feel heard and valued so that we can feel safe enough to learn and grow

What first drew you to higher education?

Like many of us in higher education, I identify strongly with the value of lifelong learning. The habit of curiosity and discovery enriches my life and keeps me growing, and this is a mindset I have always tried to share.

Early in my career as an academic advisor I was able to see so many students journey from their first course to graduation and witness the truth in the statement that that higher education transforms lives. Those stories guide my work in academic leadership today.

I intend to always remember and communicate what a tremendous opportunity each of us have to support our students and their goals through our words and our actions.

What aspects of your own education have been influential in shaping your career in academia?

As administrators, we work to address high-demand skills like effective communication in our learning experiences. I completed my doctorate in education with an employer research study on the written communication skills gap — effective writing represents one of the top skill sets that employers are seeking.

In comes generative AI and the widespread, emergent and varying conventions of its use across industries. Tools like GPT and Claude have added even more interesting complexity to this skills gap challenge for higher ed. Because of my research, I have been fortunate to be able to bring some important perspectives into the conversation from the intersection of employer research and writing studies scholarship.

What attracted you to this field of study? What keeps you excited about it?

Humanities degrees are incredibly versatile and they are amazing for broadening perspectives. I’m excited for our students to realize how many doors they can open across industries.

My BA was in English with a specialization in creative writing. I adored my course of study, which sparked my imagination and gave me so many new ways to understand the world — especially mythology, psychology, queer literature and short fiction writing. The broad liberal arts education I received supported me in developing my communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and empathy skills. These are practical and evergreen skill sets with broad application across industries.

For example, in my 20s I was hired into roles and promoted specifically due to my English degree background and my written and verbal communication skill sets. Before I came into higher ed, I was able to contribute in the skincare and beauty field in a wide variety of roles including customer service, product training, public relations and advertising. Today as a senior associate dean, I use the creative writing skills I developed in my bachelor’s program to help me with strategic and data storytelling, and of course they were incredibly helpful as I wrote my doctoral study.

We all have to find the educational paths that are right for us — that we feel passionate about so that we can keep coming back course after course until we walk across the stage at graduation. The humanities did that for me and I very much want people like me who resonate with that to know that the horizon looks bright for them. In our tech-enabled future need the humanities more than ever.

How have you found ways to effectively connect with students?

Like many of us in higher ed, I’ve had students contact me long after our last contact to tell me they made it to graduation. We have such an important opportunity every day to be a key person who stands in the gap and provides encouragement and perspective for our students.

Many of our learners are entering career fields that are brand-new to them and they need mentors to model disciplinary conventions and ways of knowing. I have realized that what may seem like a small effort can make a big difference. You never know if the encouraging words you share with a student in your first-year course are what help them to believe and truly see themselves as a future college graduate.

What brings you the greatest joy in your work at SNHU?

It brings me great joy to see the way that our students have embraced the experiential learning and interactive webinar opportunities that the deans have been offering in liberal arts and social sciences.

Events like Word for Word, Reframe to Reignite and the True Crime series are creating supportive and fun virtual spaces for our students to be in community with each other and their deans while also focusing on marketable skills such as teamwork, verbal and written communication, critical thinking, leadership and self-development.

Collaboration with our dynamic and talented career team to bring students discipline challenges like WRITE (liberal arts), The Game Design Challenge (liberal arts and STEM), the Emotional Intelligence Challenge (social sciences) and Ethics in Action have resulted in impressive student portfolio pieces and have enabled valuable connections with industry leaders as well.

My work is primarily around supporting and empowering the deans as they work to bring these engagement and mentorship opportunities to our students, and I am so proud of how this important part of our work to foster belonging and connection and self-efficacy for our learners continues to develop.

What does SNHU’s mission to transform the lives of learners mean to you

I have attended many graduation ceremonies at SNHU and it is incredibly touching to hear the stories of our hard-working graduates and the ways that their achievements have created better opportunities for them and their families. Every single graduation, I find myself saying to my colleagues, “I am so grateful that I get to work in education.” That we get to work together every day to improve this experience for them is humbling and keeps me inspired to do my best for them.

Outside of work, what’s something you’re passionate about or really enjoy doing?

I love philosophy, comparative religion and folklore. When I’m walking or doing things around the house you can usually find me deep in an audiobook or podcast rabbit hole, learning new things.

Joe Cote is a writer and organic marketer at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), where he has worked since 2016. Previously he spent more than a dozen years as a reporter and editor at weekly and daily newspapers in Vermont and New Hampshire. He lives near SNHU's Manchester, New Hampshire campus with his wife and daughter. Connect with him on LinkedIn.