Heather Pfleger, the new Dean of the School of Business and Information Sciences at Felician University is excited to be joining the Felician community and is looking forward to working with the University’s business and computer faculty and staff, who she describes as, “A phenomenal group, very professional and very dedicated.”

Heather Pfleger

Dean Pfleger brings three decades of experience in higher education to her new role at Felician. This is her third turn at being a dean, having last served in that role for the School of Business and Information Sciences and Education at Gwynedd Mercy University in Philadelphia for the past nine years.  Previously, she was the Dean for Outcomes Assessment Research and a Professor and Dean for Business and Education at Centenary College.

The new Dean says her role at Felician is similar to her past experiences, but at the same time different, because Felician’s business program, “is very comprehensive with a DBA and two master degrees, plus undergraduate degrees, both on ground, accelerated and online.”

Looking ahead Dean Pfleger sees much potential for real synergy between Felician’s business and computer information systems programs and is, “very much looking forward to working with the faculty to develop new opportunities for those programs.” Dr. Pfleger added that Felician might, “look at some cross disciplinary areas with some of the other schools on campus.” Dr. Pfleger stressed that she is very much in favor of working collaboratively with her fellow Deans at Felician, and is, “very eager and excited to get started.”

Dean Pfleger says the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose unique obstacles for all colleges and universities in providing appropriate educational opportunities for students since face to face learning is limited. But she says Felician University met the challenge, “and in a very short amount of time, the University ramped up, and completely changed instructional delivery methods to accommodate the new learning environment.”

The new Dean believes higher education today is at a crossroads, saying many institutions have not accepted the task of revitalizing curriculum to make it meaningful for today’s student population. Felician University is different she says in that it has, “done an exceptional job in recrafting education, and creating new curricula that’s exciting to students.’’ She also applauds how Felician has managed to increase enrollment during the time of COVID -19.

The new Dean says the reputation of Felician’s School of Business and Information Sciences has been growing and she intends to build on that foundation. “The faculty has really created excellent courses and programming and Felician’s School of Business and Information Sciences is poised to shine.”

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About Felician University

Felician University engages over 2,300 undergraduate, graduate, and adult students through programs in Arts & Sciences, Business, Nursing, and Education. Universal Franciscan values of social justice, compassion, and respect for human dignity serve as an inclusive foundation for transforming the lives of tomorrow’s leaders. Felician University’s education is ranked 3rd best return on investment for private colleges in New Jersey 2018 by the PayScale.com College ROI Report and is ranked #1 safest college campus in the state by niche.com in 2018.