DALLAS TWP. – Heidi L.K. Manning has been named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Misericordia University.
As the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Misericrodia University, Manning is responsible for fostering development of new programs and initiatives within the college, raising the university’s research profile of educational programs and faculty.
The college includes the departments of biology, chemistry and biochemistry, English, fine arts, history and government, including the Government, Law and National Security program, mathematics and computer science, medical and health humanities, philosophy, physics, psychology and religious studies.
Manning comes to Misericordia from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., where she was professor and chair of the Department of Physics. She also was chairperson of the Division of Science and Mathematics and director of the Credo Honors Program at Concordia.
Manning received more than $1.5 million in funding from the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Minnesota Space Grant Consortium for academic research and improving science education.
In 2006, she served as a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and participated in the development of the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite for the Mars Science Laboratory – Curiosity Rover.
Manning also served as a visiting fellow at the Goddard Space Flight Center and participated in the development and calibration of the Cassini Orbiter Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer, currently orbiting Saturn investigating the atmospheric composition of Saturn and its moons.
She most recently published “Yes We Will Find Them, The Drake Equation Tells Me So,” a chapter in “Astrotheology: Science and Theology Meet Extraterrestrial Life,” edited by Ted Peters et.al., Cascade Imprint (2017).
She has participated in the HERS Fellow Leadership Training Institute for Women in Higher Education designed to strengthen and expand leadership skills, and the Thrivent Fellows Leadership Program, a year-long program to develop leadership skills in individuals at Lutheran higher education institutions.
Manning holds a doctorate in physics from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and a Bachelor of Arts in physics, cum laude, from Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota.
A native of Moorehead, Minnesota, Manning lives in Dallas Borough.
