Deirdre Bucher Heistad, Ph.D.

Deirdre Heistad reports to the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs. As Interim Associate Provost for Academic Affairs her responsibilities broadly center on advancing the university’s vision, mission, and strategic plans related to academic affairs. This includes providing leadership in the curriculum development and review process; coordinating academic program review as mandated by university and Board of Regent policy; functioning as a liaison with the Board of Regents on academic policy; administering policies and regulations affecting students, including oversight of the student request and grievance policies; implementing of the Academic Master Plan and coordinating engaged learning initiatives; guiding university-wide STEM initiatives; and assisting the Provost in various projects and committees, both internal and external, as needed.

Dr. Heistad became Executive Director of UGS in 2018. From 2010-2018, Dr. Heistad served in a variety of administrative roles, including Director of Undergraduate Studies, Liberal Arts Core Director, and Provost Fellow.  Dr. Heistad came to UNI in 2000 as an assistant professor of French and Francophone Studies and in 2017 was awarded the status of full professor.

Dr. Heistad earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in French from the University of Iowa. Dr. Heistad earned a Diplôme d’Études Approfondies (DEA) in Comparative Literature from the Université de Paris IV-Sorbonne in 1999 and her PhD in Interdisciplinary French Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2000.