April 30, 2010
Tad Dickel named executive director of Mater Dei High School
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
The Board of Trustees of Mater Dei High School has announced that Timothy A. “Tad” Dickel, principal at the school since 2007, will be the school’s first executive director, a newly created position of governance and leadership, with an office located at Mater Dei.
He is “the perfect choice for the new position,” according to Marcia Jochem, the chair of the search committee that recommended him to the board.
“I am excited about the opportunity to serve Mater Dei as its first executive director,” Dickel said. “I plan to build on the school’s strong reputation for excellence and advance Mater Dei as the school of choice for the Evansville community. My firsthand knowledge of the institution will enable me to engage stakeholders and establish a vision for the future that is based on our Catholic values.”
Dickel’s appointment is effective July 1. As executive director, he will be in charge of all aspects of the school and directly responsible for institutional advancement, development, marketing, enrollment and the spiritual culture that evokes the Mater Dei tradition.
A committee of the Board of Trustees will work with Dickel and the Catholic School Office of the Diocese of Evansville in conducting the search for a new Mater Dei principal who will report to Dickel and be responsible for all academic and co-curricular affairs.
“Tad Dickel has established himself as a proven leader during his time at Mater Dei,” said Father David Nunning, Dean of the Evansville West Deanery of the Catholic Diocese of Evansville and a member of the Mater Dei High School Board of Trustees. “He is a product of the Catholic school governing model that we are implementing. He has embraced increased levels of responsibility within our school community and advanced his own knowledge base regarding academic excellence through activities such as AdvancedEd accreditation team participation and the Strategic Planning Task Force for the Diocese of Evansville.”
Father Nunning went on to say, Dickel “has engaged his staff in adoption of best practices in education and youth formation, including establishing aggressive goals for Advanced Placement and Dual Credit curriculum. Tad understands the importance of providing a school environment that is faith-based, challenging, safe and dedicated to preparing our most precious young people to not only make a living but to make a life.”
Dickel’s selection as the first executive director of Mater Dei High School is a result of the direction approved by Bishop Gerald A. Gettelfinger and announced in December 2009, to change the governance model of Evansville’s two Catholic high schools.
Using the new model, Mater Dei and Memorial continue to collaborate and share common practices in many areas, while each is governed by their own Board of Trustees and led by their own executive director.
Dickel is a native of Omaha, Nebraska, where his father is a long-time member of the Creighton University Education Department faculty and his mother is an elementary art teacher in a Cathlic school.
He earned an undergraduate degreee in music education from the University of Evansville, and a master’s degree in education from Indiana Wesleyan University.
Dickel taught Music, Drama and Choir at Kokomo High School and Mater Dei High School before being named principal of Mater Dei in 2007.
He will complete a Certificate in Catholic School Leadership from Creighton University in May 2010. He is married to the former Andrea Lodato, principal of St. Philip Elementary School in Posey County.
The 2009-10 school year marks the 60th anniversary of Mater Dei High School. The school has an enrollment of 535 students in grades 9 through 12.
The school is part of the Evansville Diocese school system, which continues to achieve ISTEP scores near the highest in the state and graduation rates near 100 percent with over 95 percent of graduates enrolling in college or other post secondary education.