Petcovic named to WMU arts and sciences leadership position

A new appointment to the Western Michigan University College of Arts and Sciences leadership team has been announced by Dean Dr. Carla M. Koretsky and is effective July 1.

Dr. Heather L. Petcovic has been named associate dean of the college after serving in the position on an interim basis since Jan. 1. She also holds a joint appointment as an associate professor in geosciences and the Mallinson Institute for Science Education.

HEATHER L. PETCOVIC

Petcovic's role as associate dean includes responsibility for research, graduate student success, and diversity and inclusion initiatives. A WMU faculty member since 2004, she came to WMU from Oregon State University, where she was coordinator for a K-12 outreach program called Science Connections. Also at Oregon State, she had been a geosciences instructor and a National Science Foundation Teaching Fellow in the Portland school system.

She earned a bachelor's degree at Smith College and her master's and doctoral degrees from Oregon State. Active in professional organizations, she has been the editor for the past two years of the Journal of Geoscience Education and is a past chair of the Geological Society of America Geoscience Education Division. Petcovic also is the past chair of the Teacher Education Division of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers.

She is widely published in peer-reviewed journals on such topics as field-based learning and problem-solving in the geosciences, and development of geoscience and environmental science curricula. In addition, her research has been strongly supported with external funding, resulting in her position as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on grants from the National Science Foundation totaling more than $1 million.

Learn more about WMU's College of Arts and Sciences at wmich.edu/arts-sciences.

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