Steve Iliff, Ph.D.
Dean of the School of Professional Studies
and Associate Professor of Communication
Email: steve.iliff@avila.edu

I serve as Dean of the School of Professional Services and teach adjunct in the Communication Department. Before coming to Avila, I managed several non-profit organizations and developed human service programs. Currently, in addition to my work in the School of Professional Studies, I teach conflict resolution workshops, helping people develop skills to obtain more positive outcomes in conflicts. In addition, I provide private consulting services on conflict resolution, leadership, communication and problem-solving skills. I also serve on several boards of peace and justice organizations.

The material I teach involves skills and techniques we all use in our daily lives, whether at work or at home. We all need better skills in leadership, resolving conflicts, and working with others. I'm a big believer that the best way of learning those skills is to practice them, and we do a lot of that in class. I think that students who enjoy their classes learn more. So in my classes, students talk, listen and interact with each other much more than they listen to me. I present some new ways of looking at a subject, but the students learn a lot from exercises, small group work, discussion, and simulations.