Serving the community may not be in a dean’s job description, but for one Ohio State faculty member it is a top priority.

David Andrews has served the College of Human Ecology as its dean for the last five years.

“He’s just so generous with his time,” said Marti Andrews, his wife. “He has always been service-oriented, even before it was popular.”

Before serving as dean, Andrews ran the 4-H extension office at OSU for two years and as a faculty member for one.

“I always wanted to work with kids, but I never thought I’d do it this way,” Andrews said. “I never thought I’d be dean.”

Before becoming a Buckeye, Andrews spent six years at the Oregon Social Learning Center.

After being born and raised in Florida, Andrews completed his undergraduate work at Auburn, master’s at Kansas State and doctorate in child development at Florida State.

“My first job is to run the college, but I think my real passion is to try and make a difference,” Andrews said.

Three new programs are making a great impact right now, he said.

The Service Learning Initiative incorporates course work with service to the community.

Last year, one class went into the community and identified code violations in different houses. They then chose two of the violations and had Lowe’s fix the problems for the residents.

The Jump Start program began this fall thanks to the efforts of Andrews, said Tiffani Lewis, site manager for Jump Start.

College students are paired with high-risk preschoolers for an entire school year, creating a mentor relationship.

Twice a week, students report for two-hour shifts at one of three centers, Lewis said.

Participants also have five hours of classroom work per week, Lewis said. During this time, they help out teachers in any possible way.

Students can earn work-study money while participating in this program and do not have to be in the College of Human Ecology to join, Andrews said.

Andrews also serves as the director for the Center for Learning Excellence. The focus of the program is to develop programs for middle schools and high schools that help them deal with at-risk students, he said.

Andrews said it is a way to use the resources of the university to better the community.

“His leadership style is easy-going and conversational, yet there is never any doubt about his passion for improving the lives of at-risk children and adolescents,” said Al Neff, associate director for the Center for Learning Excellence.

Andrews has played a key role in raising the more than $1.7 million in the annual budget for the center, Neff said.

“It’s really that he encourages the faculty and staff to find new ways to use their teaching and research to solve overwhelming societal problems,” said Janet Ciccone, director of communications for the College of Human Ecology.

Andrews’ specialty area is adolescent development, Ciccone said. He encourages all faculty to come up with more innovative projects.

A great example of this is the new early childhood center planned for the Weinland park area.

Andrews said the only thing making him sad about moving the childcare center away from the university is that he will not be able to just run downstairs and play with the children.

“We need to keep striving for excellence,” Andrews said.

The college needs to keep focusing on real world issues, having above average ideas and hiring world class professors, Andrews said.

“I wish I had a lot more time to be with students,” Andrews said.

A busy schedule limits the number of students that Andrews gets to communicate with on a normal basis, but each year he works with a few students with similar passions.

The Andrews have two daughters, Amy and Ashley. Amy attends the University of Michigan and Ashley is a senior in high school.

Andrews and his daughter Amy are working together with Habitat for Humanity to try and organize a project with the two rival schools, Ciccone said.

Andrews has been awarded the Golden Ruler Award by Columbus City Schools, a postdoctoral fellowship award by the National Institute of Mental Health and the distinguished faculty award from Oregon State University.