In Service of Students: Christiane Healey Joins Commonwealth Honors College Leadership

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Commonwealth Honors College (CHC) is excited to welcome Dr. Christiane Healey, who has recently joined CHC as Associate Dean for Academic Oversight and Faculty Development. With almost 20 years of experience in academia as both an administrator and faculty member, and a deep commitment to student-centered approaches, Healey brings a wealth of expertise and fresh perspectives to the college.

Healey’s Path to CHC

Healey's journey has provided her with the skill set and experiences needed to succeed at Honors. A native of Germany, Healey completed both her undergraduate and master's degrees at respected German institutions: the University of Göttingen and Ludwig Maximilian University in Würzburg. 

Her early academic trajectory, however, took an international turn when she participated in a study abroad program at Duke University. This experience proved transformative, not only allowing Healey to collect data for her master's thesis at the Beaufort Marine Lab, but also sparking a lifelong appreciation for the American higher education system.

Following this study abroad program, she pursued a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. After the completion of her PhD program, Healey completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA.  It was there she secured her first faculty position, teaching courses in biology while deepening her commitment to student learning. Healey made a lateral move to join the Department of Biology at UMass Amherst in 2010, where she thrived in a teaching-focused role for over a decade and a half.

From the Classroom to Leadership

Throughout her teaching tenure, Healey built an exceptional reputation as an educator. She taught large lecture courses, laboratory-based classes, specialized offerings (including a tropical field biology course), and four semesters in the iCons program – an interdisciplinary academic certificate in real-world problem solving for STEM undergraduates. But even as Healey excelled in the classroom, she began to see opportunities beyond individual courses. 

Healey recognized that systemic change could have profound impacts on student success.

This prompted her to take on a new challenge, academic leadership. In 2020, Healey became a Chancellor's Leadership Fellow in the Office of Faculty Development, working alongside Michelle Budig (now Executive Deputy Provost). In her new role, she designed and administered a professional development series for non-tenure track faculty, a group of faculty members which previously lacked dedicated programming. Healey’s work proved so impactful that the university eventually hired an associate director to continue the initiatives, which remain pivotal today.

After transitioning to the Undergraduate Student Success Center, Healey spent two years collaborating with Associate Provost Carolyn Bassett on the Academic Alert Initiative. This system allows faculty to flag students at risk, ensuring that support services reach those who need them most. Reflecting on her work, Healey notes that it has taught her something crucial about systems in higher education, saying "I've learned that collaboration between staff and faculty just makes really good things happen."

The importance of this insight cannot be overstated. Through her roles in faculty development and student success, Healey witnessed firsthand how reducing friction and fostering collaboration can create real change, positively shaping her leadership approach.

Student-Centered Approach

Now, as Associate Dean for Academic Oversight and Faculty Development, Healey brings her breadth of experience and expertise to Commonwealth Honors College where she hopes to support the academic excellence and innovation that defines the college. 

Duties for her role include curriculum development, creating academic opportunities for students, overseeing the Honors Thesis process, and fostering faculty development across CHC's diverse community.

Healey was very direct when asked what success looks like in this role, saying: “For me, success in my role is for students and for faculty to thrive.”

This definition of success rests on a few core principles that she hopes are reflected in her work. This includes building student-ready systems where faculty and staff meet students where they are, “rather than expecting students to adapt to us,” Healey said. 

Practically, Healey noted, this means figuring out what gets in the way of student success and thriving, and then addressing those things. 

"There can be small things, it can be bigger things, things that can be fixed easily, things that take longer," she explains. "But really working with others as a unit to figure out what those roadblocks are and how we can diminish them, ideally remove them completely."

Given these trying times, Healey also emphasized the importance of building resilient systems in the face of growing threats to higher education funding and AI, among other things. She believes that institutions, like individuals, must view challenges as opportunities to strengthen their approach.

"If I don't fail, I'm going a really safe route. Failure, in the moment, it totally sucks. It really does. But you learn from it," Healey explains. ”You experience the worst, in a way, like whatever the worst is in that moment. And then you're like, oh, okay, I made it through it. That actually happened, and it's okay. I'm okay."

Looking Ahead

As we begin a new academic year, Healey is preparing to take on new challenges and further the mission of the Honors College, a mission that aligns with her values.

“I was attracted to CHC because of its values…I feel folks here express and live those values in a way that feels aligned with who I am,” she said.

It's this congruence in values and deep admiration that motivates and informs Healey in her new role. As she settles in, faculty can expect an experienced and passionate advocate who will work to foster deeper relationships between faculty, students, and the college. Students can expect a dedicated administrator who will work to remove barriers and create opportunities for students to thrive at CHC, with Healey eagerly declaring, 

“I see my role very much in the service of students."