38 years down, 1 semester to go

Dean of Students Dick McKaig could teach a class on getting pied in the face.

The self-proclaimed “expert” could lecture for hours on how the first three or four pies taste good, or how the Cool Whip eventually gets rancid, or how your clothes get stiff.

“I’ve had many a T-shirt or hat that came out rather starched from having done a pie-in-the-face routine,” McKaig said.

McKaig has done it all: dunk tanks, tattoos and earrings, Cat in the Hat and the Cowardly Lion.

In his 38 years at IU, the last 18 of which he has been the dean of students, McKaig has undergone countless forms of self-humiliation for charities and student events, including the occasional pie in the face.

This semester will be his last at IU. While McKaig called his retirement a
“calendar thing” and points to his turning 65 this year, he said it will be a well-needed break.

“The job is exciting enough and rewarding enough that one could keep doing it, and it’s also exhausting enough that one could really look forward to not doing it for a while,” he said.

McKaig said during the school year he is often on campus from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., talking to students, staff and parents, fulfilling his duties as a dean and attending student activities.

He makes it a point to be visible to students and appreciate the traditions at IU. He has attended every Little 500 since 1973. Attending events and meeting students is what keeps the ever-busy McKaig going.

“You get to some of these student events, and they’re so much fun you really are re-energized to the process,” McKaig said.

McKaig is IU’s fifth dean of students and will leave a legacy of someone who cared about the well-being of students and the University.

“He’s probably one of the best deans of students in America,” said University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis, who has known McKaig for almost 30 years.

Gros Louis said McKaig will be remembered by students for years to come.

“Many of those students are going to pass on those things they’ve learned from Dick to others,” Gros Louis said, “so his legacy is going to be like all great teachers and mentors. He’s someone that’s going to be felt for several generations.”

In his years at IU, McKaig has built lasting relationships with students that extend past their years at IU.
Last fall the IU Student Association held its 60th-anniversary meeting. IUSA president Luke Fields was surprised by how many students still had strong bonds with the dean of students.

“There were student body presidents and executives back before I was even born,” Fields said. “To see how the kind of relationships those people still had with Dean McKaig 20 years later was unbelievable, and how he continues his job even after they’re not students.”

When students talk about McKaig, three words are consistently spoken: genuine, committed and caring.

Senior Rachael Tunick, the Union Board’s vice president for membership, has worked closely with McKaig in her time at the Union Board.

She has been in meetings with him, hung out at his house and played cornhole with him.

“He really knows how to make students feel really comfortable,” Tunick said. “He’s just a really happy person. He loves IU. I love being around him.”

Tunick said McKaig has an ability to relate to students seldom seen in administrators.
“There’s always something to laugh about when you’re around him,” she said.

Students appreciate how frank and down-to-earth McKaig is in a university system that can sometimes seem cold and formal.

“He’s just so candid, and it’s so clear how much he cares,” Tunick said. “It’s just genuine care. It really just shines from him. It’s just genuine and there’s nothing shady and nothing masking his personality.”

Gros Louis said McKaig’s evenhandedness, humor and patience have made him an extraordinary dean of students.

“Many student leaders have told me over the years that what they admire most about Dick is that he guides them, but he never tells them what to do,” Gros Louis said.
Students also appreciate McKaig’s knowledge of the University, both past and present.
“I’m not sure we can ever put a value on it,” Fields said. “We’re losing a mainstay of the University. I sincerely hope whoever the University brings on next will be able to fill those huge shoes.”

Fields is on a committee of faculty, students and staff charged with naming recommendations for the next dean of students. The committee will give their list to IU Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson, who will make the decision.

Junior Andrew Hahn, IUSA vice president for congress, said no matter who IU hires, no one can completely replace what McKaig means to the University.

“Dean McKaig has really lived it here at IU, and we’re really losing that intangible aspect that we won’t be able to replace,” Hahn said.

Gros Louis said McKaig “stands head and shoulders above” other deans of students across the country. He said students are losing a true ally at the University.

“They know Dick McKaig is a mentor, a friend and a guide,” Gros Louis said. “He’s an amazing guy.”