reviews :Chris Dennen

National Director of
An Adventure of the American Mind

The AAM program is a 40 million dollar grant from the Library of Congress to train classroom teachers and college faculty to use the more than 10 million digitized original source documents that are available through the libraries’ web site. This program is conducted in more than 10 states. Here is the last annual report describing the program:

Dr. Chris Dennen is the most encouraging, hard working, get-the-job-done well, sensitive person I have had the pleasure to work with in my twenty-six years as an educator. Chris has that special ability to stay calm in the face of adversity and work through issues before they become problems. He has encouraged me and given me opportunities to excel in my work and has gently nudged me into a higher level of thinking and working.

Chris’ work with the Adventure of the American Mind program has shown his keen sense of business and his ability to work with a variety of people (congressmen, senators, teachers, attorneys, librarians, business people, university chancellors, financial personnel, and higher education professors and directors – to name a few). I was with the Adventure of the American Mind Project prior to Chris becoming the National Director. He took a multi-million dollar program and developed it into a nationally recognized successful organization.

I do not even know how to express my gratitude to Chris for his wonderful leadership, his friendship, and his ability to move forward with the program and smile the whole time. I would welcome the opportunity to work with Chris again and know whoever is lucky enough to employ him will have made the best employment decision possible.

Dr. Beth Rodgers Coulter
Director, Adventure of the American Mind
College of Education and Allied Professions
Western Carolina University

Dr. Dennen and I worked together in his capacity as National Director of the Adventure of the American Mind, a program sponsored by U.S. Congressman Charles Taylor’s Education and Research Consortium (ERC). Under the Adventure of the American Mind auspices, our university was invited to submit a proposal to establish a Computer Literacy summer program to assist at-risk middle school students gain the technology skills to succeed in school. This past summer was the sixth year of the program. Dr. Dennen’s guidance, foresight and steadying influence was in large part responsible for the extraordinary success of the program. He was always accessible to discuss direction, problems or ideas that would result in program improvements.
His on-going support and professional demeanor enabled the Computer Literacy program goals and direction to remain consistent with the requirements of ERC, the funding organization. On several occasions he represented Congressman Taylor at the graduation ceremonies as keynote speaker. Parents and students alike were very proud of their success as a result of the kind words of affirmation which Dr. Dennen offered.
His strong leadership and bold vision resulted in an Administrative Manual outlining step-by-step policies and procedures necessary for any organization interested in duplicating the Computer Literacy program. I strongly recommend Dr. Dennen.
Dr. Elaine T. Fox Director, Extension and Distance Education University of North Carolina, Asheville

You did such a good job of taking this program from its infancy and growing it into such a wonderful model. What I always like about your leadership is that you were flexible enough to let each of us do it our way as long as we were meeting the goals. I think that made this program so rich since we were free to be creative and not lock-stepped into just one-right-way to get the job done.
I will always think of you as a friend and a person who epitomizes great leadership!
	Dr. Sandi Estep Director, Adventure of the American Mind Professor, Educational Administration Governors State University

You were, without a doubt, the most fair and balanced director and your attitude and approach benefited AAM tremendously. Your ability to move the organization forward while keeping everyone ably serviced was a positive influence on the program’s growth. You were the right man for the job!
…At work, a person’s true character becomes evident. From our conversations, my perspectives have broadened and that will always remain with me.
…I am grateful you contributed to the growth of my spirit.
	Dr. Michael J. Brna Director, Adventure of the American Mind California University of Pennsylvania

I have known Dr. Dennen for approximately three years. During that time he was the National Director of the Adventure of the American Mind (AAM) program while I was a local director for the subcontracted AAM program at Loyola University Chicago. AAM is a program designed to promote the use of the vast digitized resources of the United States Library of Congress in elementary and secondary schools. The program is a well conceived blending of traditional librarianship with constructivist learning theory, contemporary technologies, and innovative delivery strategies.
Local directors look to the National Director for both leadership and support. Dr. Dennen has consistently offered both. In such a program where the need is regularly to invent procedures and strategies, he did an excellent job of stimulating creative thought and supporting exploratory efforts. Also, he created multiple means by which the various local directors shared knowledge gained through such experimentation. The result has been a work context in which the local directors are not afraid to try new ideas and do not feel a need to be secretive by withholding information on new strategies from other local directors.
Dr. Dennen has been consistent in his support of local directors in the context of their own home universities. The AAM contract specifies that the services of the AAM director are to be full time. However, the nature of universities is such that many other duties tend to be tossed to persons with faculty standing. When that has happened in the setting of my own university, Dr. Dennen has always been supportive and helpful in resolving the conflicting demands.
I believe Dr. Dennen can offer outstanding leadership in any similar organization in which collegial governance is valued, in which innovative thinking is needed, and in which diverse kinds of knowledge are integrated.
	Dr. Joy J. Rogers Professor of Curriculum and Development and Educational Psychology Director, Adventure of the American Mind Loyola University, Chicago

Chris’s work with us, his guidance and leadership, was very instrumental to the accomplishments of the program.
Local directors look to the National Director for both leadership and support. Dr. Dennen has consistently offered both. In such a program where the need is regularly to invent procedures and strategies, he did an excellent job of stimulating creative thought and supporting exploratory efforts. Also, he created multiple means by which the various local directors shared knowledge gained through such experimentation. The result has been a work context in which the local directors are not afraid to try new ideas and do not feel a need to be secretive by withholding information on new strategies from other local directors.
	Margo Tomaras AAM Program Director DePaul University, Chicago

Portland, Oregon
Phone: 828-423-0670
Contact Chris