Change is good.

That?s what Marilyn Hopkins, the new Dean of Sacramento State?s College of Health and Human Services, wants students and faculty to understand.

Hopkins, who served as the interim dean at the college last semester, said she hopes to see that credo hold true under her leadership. Through expanding and improving existing facilities and aggressively recruiting new students and faculty, she hopes to effect changes that will further the college?s mission to produce graduates “who are skilled participants in their professional careers,” Hopkins said.

Interim assistant Dean of Health and Human Services Patricia Clark-Ellis said Hopkins? ability to work with others and her focus on student retention and education make her a natural for the position.

“She?s a very compassionate manager who considers others when making decisions about the college,” Clark-Ellis said. “She?s constantly looking toward the students.”

Hopkins administers one of the largest colleges on campus. One of every 10 declared majors on campus are enrolled in one of the seven programs ? criminal justice, kinesiology, nursing, physical therapy, recreation and leisure studies, social work, and speech and audio pathology ? comprising Health and Human Services.

Due to the constant need for people in fields such as law enforcement and health care, Hopkins said she is particularly concerned with the nursing, criminal justice and social work departments.

“These are areas where there are critical shortages of professionals in the workplace,” she said.

In an effort to increase enrollment in those programs, the college is looking for more classroom space. Health and Human Services plans to construct a $100,000 storage building this year near the Children?s Center to hold nursing materials that occupy valuable classroom space now.

According to Hopkins, the extra classroom space means that the nursing program will be able to increase enrollment from 50 to 70 students in the coming year, a growth trend she hopes will eventually branch out into the criminal justice program.

“We?re looking for community partners ? public organizations and private corporations ? to donate funds to build another storage area,” Hopkins said. “The criminal justice classrooms are like the nursing classrooms ? very overcrowded.”

Another change Hopkins said she plans to institute is the “aggressive” recruiting of freshmen and undeclared students to the College of Health and Human Services.

“Quite frankly, we want them here,” she said.

Hopkins understands that increasing enrollment means that she must recruit more faculty members. She recently hired 19 tenure track professors and six full-time lecturers for the coming semester.

She also instituted a new faculty mentor program that pairs new hires with senior staff.

“If we don?t hire the best faculty and keep them, the quality of education suffers,” Hopkins said. “The mentor program is designed to assure faculty that we?re committed to their personal and professional success.”

Handling a $12 million budget and overseeing the education of 2,950 students and the careers of dozens of faculty members is light years from her first teaching experience as a clinical instructor at American River Hospital 23 years ago, when Hopkins shepherded a raw nursing student through a Critical Care Unit rotation.

In spite of the pressures that go with such a high-profile position, co-workers describe her as approachable and liked by her staff.

“She really, really cares about students, faculty and staff,” said Betty Lou Dais, administrative analyst for the college. “She?s a sensitive person. And what you see is what you get.”

Hopkins never thought that she would work at the highest levels of academia. Teaching never entered her mind when she graduated from Sac State with a bachelor?s degree in nursing in 1970. “I never thought I?d do anything but nursing,” she said. “I thought that?s what I?d be doing the rest of my life.”

Hopkins continued her education at the University of California, San Francisco, where she graduated with a Doctorate of Nursing Science in 1984.