Fort\nHays State University exists to improve lives. Every day, I witness and\nexperience our relentless focus on excellence and the unwavering resilience of\nmy Fort Hays State colleagues. We work hard at supporting our students,\nfaculty, and staff. We are responsible to one another and for one another.\nTogether we build a better world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the time this Heart of the Tiger<\/em> column is published, we will have welcomed our faculty, staff and students back to campus. It is my pleasure to introduce to the community the newest members of our senior leadership team: Dr. Angela Pool-Funai, dean of the Graduate School, and Dr. Dan Blankenship, interim dean of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Angela,\na native of Houston, Texas, relocated to Hays from the high desert of southern\nUtah. Bryce Canyon National Park, by the way, is one of her favorite locales on\nthe planet. I am adding that to my travel wish list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Angela\nis a nearly empty-nester mom of five boys. She shared with me that she has gone\nfrom feeding an army to needing to relearn how to grocery shop for much smaller\nportions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Angela\nand I share a love for boxing. Her other hobbies, I learned, are much more\nambitious than mine. She is restoring a 1988 Ford Thunderbird that she\naffectionately refers to as her midlife crisis project. \u201cI like working with my\nhands,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are few things more gratifying to me than repairing\nsomething myself.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Angela\nloves the outdoors. She can be seen biking around Ellis and enjoys taking her\ncanoe out to explore the lakes and reservoirs in the area. She says that\nspending time on the water helps her decompress both mentally and physically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A\nfun story Angela shared with me is that her first book was on ethics in fiscal\nadministration (managing public resources in an ethical manner). The best\ncompliment she received came from a student who told her that he expected to\nhate the book. Instead, he not only enjoyed reading it, he asked her to autograph\nhis copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Angela\ncomes from a non-traditional academic background, in that she had many years of\nexperience as a staff member before joining the faculty. The role of Graduate\nSchool Dean connects both paths of her career by allowing her to work across\ndisciplines and with all areas of the university. I loved and appreciated this\nabout her background as well as her positive, creative, high energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look\nfor Angela at a Tiger football game as she is \u201cpumped\u201d for our first home game\n\u2013 as am I! She is also especially excited about a new virtual Lunch & Learn\nseries that the Graduate School is launching to stay engaged with all of our\ngraduate students, both on campus and online. I love this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe\npeople I have met at FHSU made me feel at home before I even stepped foot on\ncampus. I’m thrilled to be part of Tiger Nation!\u201d Angela shared. We are excited\nabout her talents and very optimistic how her efforts will benefit our students\nand our university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When long-standing and beloved dean Paul Faber retired after 38 years of dedicated service to FHSU, Dr. Jill Arensdorf, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, wisely decided to appoint an interim dean of the college for one year. Dr. Blankenship was a perfect match to fill that role. He serves a special niche in higher education, providing strategic leadership for universities wanting to keep an institution moving forward while taking a more thoughtful approach in transitioning leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan\ncame to Fort Hays State after serving for three years at Fort Valley State\nUniversity in Georgia as dean of the College of Agriculture, then as vice\nprovost for Academic Affairs and Director of Graduate Studies. He is very\ntalented in keeping a university moving forward while creating processes for a\nsuccessful transition for the leader selected to follow him. I feel very\nfortunate to have him on our team this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Fun\nfacts about Dan include that he is a licensed pilot (for about 20 years), has\nflown various aircraft, and currently owns a Mooney aircraft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dan\u2019s\nacademic credentials include achieving faculty rank of professor of biology as\nwell as earning tenure three times at three different institutions. He has been involved in liberal arts\neducation most of his academic career and has delivered a keynote address to\nthe faculty of Beijing Normal University in China and published in proceedings\nin Hong Kong, for example, on the application of a liberal arts education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What\nI really love about Dan is that he is very committed to student access and\nsuccess. He has an academic background as a faculty member and 20-plus years in\nadministration, demonstrating that commitment through retention and graduation\ninitiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nasked Dan about his hopes for this academic year. \u201cI\u2019d like to see that the\nCAHSS becomes known for its initiative, creativity, and innovation \u2013 leading to\nbetter access by students to our programs and to be able to highlight the\nstrengths of our programs,\u201d he said. \u201cI also would like us to find ways to\nbetter influence thought processes and thinking skills to help our constituents\nand students more critically analyze the world around us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am so excited to welcome our newest senior leaders, Angela and Dan, to Fort Hays State as well as to our wonderful Ellis County neighborhood. Celebrating and sharing some of the newest members of Tiger Nation brings me great joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tisa Mason is president of Fort Hays State University.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Fort Hays State University exists to improve lives. 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