Angela Royal came to Culver-Stockton with illuminating positivity. The new Dean of Student Life told The Wildcat Wire this year’s theme is connections, in hopes of reconnecting the students and staff to the campus.

With last year’s COVID-19 regulations in mind, she looks to ‘reconnect’ the college and get the campus involved again. Although she only had a couple of short weeks to prepare for the school year, she was eager to see students. She acknowledged the hard work is worth it when you get to see the students are back and the campus is buzzing. Especially after COVID-19, and everything being pushed back and restricted, Royal wanted to make up for what the students and staff might have missed. 

Royal was previously Director of Student Involvement at Lindenwood University, where she is currently completing her Doctorate of Higher Education.

Dean Royal loves to interact with the students, even in little ways like in the lunch line or just walking around campus. She says the family dynamic, along with our success rates and experiential learning, were huge factors in her decision to come to “the Hill.”  Royal says “Everyone was so warm and welcoming.”  She broke down how the community of Culver-Stockton College truly felt like a family. She knew if she accepted the position,  the faculty and staff would support her.

The new dean states that it is essential for college life to be beneficial in and out of the classroom. She noted how having events and student interaction is critical to college experience. The college is ‘speaking her language’ when it comes to interaction and fun outside of the classroom. She also mentions how she loves the relationship dynamic between the town of Canton and the College. “EDM was special, seeing the new students go and assist the community was moving.”   She mentions that the foundation built by previous educators and staff was substantial and her job now is to raise us to the next level. She would like to develop a more formal leadership development program or would even like to introduce 3-week travel study as a volunteer/service trip. 

Though the college is still being cautious with the Delta variant of COVID-19, Royal was happy about our vaccination rates.  She cautioned how the new variant is aiming more towards the college-aged kids and how that could affect Wildcats 

Dean Royal also wishes to work bridging the gap between students, faculty, and staff.  She wants students to know that her door is always open and wants to hear from them on their ideas and inputs.