Walsh University has announced the appointment of Ute Lahaie, Ph.D., as Dean of Institutional Effectiveness and Assessment, effective July 1. Dr. Lahaie will assume the duties of Dan Suvak who is retiring after more than 34 years of service to Walsh.
In her new role, Dr. Lahaie will be responsible for leading the assessment, institutional research and effectiveness, as well as the reaccreditation efforts at Walsh University.
Dr. Lahaie previously served as Walsh’s Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, the University’s third comprehensive school housing the divisions of Humanities, Language and Letters, Mathematics and Sciences, Philosophy and Theology, along with Walsh’s General Education and Honors programs, which together offered more than 24 majors. As founding dean, she led the creation of the vision, mission and direction for the School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Lahaie led many initiatives promoting student engagement and active learning, and she provided strong support of excellence in teaching and learning. Dr. Lahaie has been instrumental in the development of new majors and minors as well as internships for all Arts and Sciences majors. Dr. Lahaie also played a critical role as an advocate for the Arts and Science as member of the Deans’ Council.
Dr. Lahaie joined Walsh in 2012 as Dean of Undergraduate Studies. She initiated the creation of the biannual Academic Celebration of Excellence Symposium (ACES), and she led a taskforce that was charged with design of two new flexible learning spaces: the Experimental Learning Space and the Active Learning Classroom. Dr. Lahaie also led a wide variety of faculty development programs to equip faculty for teaching in these new technology-rich, active learning spaces using digital-age teaching and learning methods.
Ute Lahaie served as President of the International Association for Language Learning Technologies (IALLT) from 2011-2013, and in an advisory role as Immediate Past-President from 2013-15. She was also the editor for the second edition of the IALLT Learning Center Management Manual, and she co-edited the IALLT Learning Center Design publication. She previously served as President of the South Central Association for Language Learning Technology (SOCALLT) and as editor of the conference proceedings for SOCALLT. Dr. Lahaie has given numerous conference presentations, workshops, and webinars on learning space design, faculty development, and language center management.
Prior to joining the administration at Walsh University, Dr. Lahaie served as Chair of the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and as Professor of French and German at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina where she led the five-year departmental review. In a previous appointment, she served as Director of the Language Acquisition Center and Professor of German at Baylor University in Texas where she led the design and implementation of a new learning center and guided new faculty development initiatives. Dr. Ute Lahaie earned both her M.A in French, with minors in French Pedagogy and Russian, and her Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition from Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. Dr. Lahaie and her husband, Scot, have two daughters who are both Walsh alumni. Their daughter Michele earned her MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship at Walsh University, and their daughter Isabelle graduated with a BA with majors in History, Philosophy, and Art History. The Lahaie family resides in Canton.