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Associate Professor and Chair Heather Mathews receives 2023 Faculty Excellence Award in Service
Associate Professor and Chair Heather Mathews receives 2023 Faculty Excellence Award in Service
Image: Heather Mathews, Associate Professor and Chair of the Communication, Media & Design Arts Program (PLU Photo)
By Jeffrey Roberts
PLU Marketing & Communications
The Faculty Excellence Award in Service recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates academic leadership and who influences the life of the university through service in areas of faculty governance, the university and the community beyond the university. This year, we honor Heather Mathews, Associate Professor and Chair of the Communication, Media & Design Arts program.
As the department chair, Mathews consistently exhibits unwavering professionalism, care, and dedication, ensuring effective management of the department’s affairs week after week. A colleague described her as “a gifted servant leader, able to see the larger picture while ensuring that the details are managed effectively, regardless of what is thrown at her.”
Another colleague described her as “the glue that has kept the department moving forward successfully.”
Beyond the department, Mathews has served on the Global Education Committee, Faculty Affairs Committee, Long-Range Planning Committee, the Human Participants Review Board, General Education Council, IHON Steering Committee, Women’s and Gender Studies Executive Committee, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies steering committee. She is the coordinator of the University Gallery & PLU Permanent Art Collection, overseer of the annual Studio Art, Design, & Media Artistic Achievement Awards, and manager of equipment, supplies, and repairs for all art and design studio area courses.
Mathews’ service extends beyond PLU, where her role as co-coordinator of Visual Culture for the German Studies Association highlights her commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration. She leads with inclusivity and democratic practice.
Her extraordinary service, characterized by transparency, inclusivity, and a genuine commitment to making people feel valued, sets her apart as deserving of the Faculty Excellence Award in Service. As a colleague noted, Mathews “is invested in this place, in making it better, and in making people feel like they matter.”
