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Joel J. Dant of Oak Park, Ill., will become the C-SC athletic director on June 1, replacing Rod Walton who returned to the classroom as a fulltime psychology professor last January. Dant, who graduated from Culver-Stockton, returns to his alma mater after an extensive career with major U.S. corporations. “Joel brings a unique perspective to Culver-Stockton athletics that blends with our vision for revitalizing the athletics department,” said William L. Fox, C-SC president. “He has spent 25 years focused on recruiting, management and motivating individuals in the corporate setting. He has innovative ideas about how to apply those skills to recruit and motivate student athletes as well as recruiting and managing excellent coaches to lead them. Our coaches already know their sport and bring that level of expertise to campus; Joel brings other skills and qualities as the leader of the department. It is exciting to envision where his creativity and drive can take Culver-Stockton.” Melik Peter Khoury, vice president for enrollment management and college marketing, added that naming Dant is the first part of restructuring the C-SC athletic department into the enrollment management division, where it is now housed organizationally. “More than one-third of our student body each year is involved in at least one sport on campus,” Khoury said. “A quality athletic department is a crucial component of our recruitment and retention initiatives. Joel appreciates the importance of recruiting excellent players, and he also shares our vision of finding student athletes who not only are capable of excellent achievements in their sport but who also excel in the classroom. Rod Walton led this program well for a number of years; Coach Christian Guenther as interim athletic director helped me to continue to make progress over the past several months; and now Joel Dant will help us build our program for the future.” “I am grateful that Culver-Stockton is giving me this opportunity to not only come back to my home college but also to return to my home area,” Dant said. “This position is a great opportunity to apply what I have learned about leadership and strategic alignment and assessment in the corporate world over the years to the sports and academic arena. I look forward to this challenge and renewing old relationships and building new ones.” A Hannibal, Mo., native, Dant earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology at C-SC and his master’s degree in labor and industrial relations at Michigan State University, East Lansing, Mich. He began his corporate career in human resources at Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Mich.; and after eight years, moved on to the Pillsbury Company, Minneapolis, Minn., where he spent another eight years in diversity management and human resources. In 1999, he began an eight-year stint as vice president-human resources at Leaf North America, Lake Forest, Ill. His experience also includes vice president, human resources, Credit Division, Sears, Roebuck and Co., Chicago; director, people services, United Airlines, Chicago; and director, human resources, Alliant Energy Resources, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Most recently, he was vice president of business development for a privately held U.S. talent management firm, Kensington International. While at C-SC, Dant was a student athlete and excelled both on the basketball court and in the classroom (dean’s list his senior year). He was all conference and honorably mentioned as an NAIA Academic All American his senior year. Dant also played semi-professional basketball for a brief period after graduate school. Dant and his wife, Faye (also a Hannibal native), have three children, Joel Jr., Kalecia, and Jenni, all who reside in the Chicago area. Joel Jr. was all state in football and attended Southern Illinois University, and Jenni was a high school All American in basketball and played at DePaul University in Chicago. She was drafted by the WNBA Houston Comets and also played in Europe. OTHER FEATURED ARTICLES
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