Adrian Suarez Avila/ News Director
Michael Heithaus, the newly appointed dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, met with Student Media earlier this week for an interview.
Provost and Executive Vice President Kenneth G. Furton sent the memorandum informing the University community of Heithaus’ appointment on Monday, March 30.
Before his official appointment, Heithaus served as the interim dean in July 2014. He was appointed to that position when then-Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Furton was appointed as the current provost.
Considering that the College of Arts and Sciences is the largest college in the University, one of Heithaus’ main focal points is ensuring that the College is using the best teaching practices to engage students and faculty that work within it.
He admitted that he’s excited to be the dean of a college whose faculty is concerned with the importance of engaging students in the classroom and applying best practices to their teaching methods.
Among his plans for his present administration are finding ways to secure permanent instructors who are fully available to ensure that the College is not relying on adjunct professors.
He and his team are also working on ways to examine the class scheduling system and noting which classes are the ones that students want the most, all in order to optimize students’ schedules to make sure they’re taking the classes they need in order to graduate.
Heithaus is particularly interested in getting feedback from students.
He wants to reach out to students and brainstorm ways to get them engaged and make sure that they meet their advisors, professors and other important individuals within the College.
One of the ways in which he’s done this is by hosting lunches in intimate group settings with different students from the College of Arts and Sciences in order to understand their concerns and have them speak about their individual experiences.
As far as dealing with faculty, Heithaus admits to having had several meetings with faculty members from various disciplines in the College with the intention of getting a sense of their thoughts of the current activities of the College, their individual goals and their plans to achieve these goals.
“We all really share those values of we want to make sure that we’re preparing our students to really thrive in life,” said Heithaus.
He added that he and other members of the College of Arts and Sciences are interested in making sure that students are given an opportunity to be prepared for the future and become creative and critical thinkers to create their own path in life.
The generation of research opportunities in the University are also on his radar.
Heithaus said that one of the major benefits of being at a research university is the chance to become involved in various research opportunities.
One of his present plans is to work with advisors to actively work with students in order to guide them to potential research opportunities with professors at the College. He also wants to encourage students to take the initiative of personally reaching out to professors and indicating their interests in working with them with their research projects.
Aware of the fact that the College houses such a large assortment of academic disciplines, Heithaus nonetheless believes that some of the goals of the individual professors in the various departments fall on a similar foundation.
“Although we have a lot of different disciplines in the College of Arts and Sciences, the core values are really the same,” he said.
According to Heithaus, the College of Arts and Sciences is committed to the liberal arts. He admits that many of today’s problems require disciplinary approaches to solution-finding.
He provided the example of students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields who may need to consider approaches in fields such as the arts in order to become critical problem solvers. In an equal light, students in the arts may benefit from considering approaches in STEM fields when thinking creatively.
According to the memorandum sent by Provost Furton, Heithaus joined the University community back in 2003 as an assistant professor of biology, and held various positions prior to his appointment as dean. Heithaus served as the director of the Marine Sciences Program, and also as the associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He was the founding executive director of the School of Environment, Arts and Society (SEAS).
Sometimes I read FIUSM and I wonder to myself, “Did this reporter even TRY?” This is the worst article that I have ever seen on the cover of The Beacon. What kind of writing is this? You’re the news director, and yet you clearly have never taken a news writing class, or else you would know if a real editor read that lede, they’d toss your article in the trash after the first sentence.
This article has no flow, no importance and no interest. I want to know Heithaus’ story. Where did he come from? Where did he get his degree? What specific ways does he involve himself in the FIU community? What makes him qualified to hold any of the positions you mentioned he’s held?
Also, why would you cite Furton’s memorandum for providing you information in the last graf that you should have either read in his bio or asked him yourself? That makes you look like you didn’t even interview him. This article is sloppy at best.