(May 7, 2008) Provost Mark Heckler will be remembered at UC Denver as a “great leader” and hundreds of faculty, staff and UC Denver administrators were quick to tell him so.
“A good leader inspires people to have confidence in the leader, a great leader inspires people to have confidence in themselves,” said UC Denver Chancellor M. Roy Wilson, quoting Sam Walton, at the provost’s farewell reception.
Heckler will begin his position in July as president of Valparaiso University, a private institution in Valparaiso, Ind., with nearly 4,000 students in five undergraduate colleges, a graduate school and a law school.
The humble and appreciative Heckler thanked staff and faculty for 13 years of professional growth at the University of Colorado Denver. The politics – both in higher education and the state – will not be missed, he said. However, the people – from facilities personnel who keep the buildings running to faculty who make incredible educational strides with no funding – will be. Heckler gave special thanks to his brother and sisters in arms, including former vice chancellor Dana Gibson, Chief of Staff Andy Jhanji and Vice Chancellor Teresa Berryman, for linking arms and standing tough with him during difficult times.
Among his many contributions to UC Denver, Heckler served as vice chair of the university system-wide study that led to the consolidation of the University of Colorado Denver and the University of Colorado Denver on July 1, 2004. Prior to consolidation, he served as acting chancellor and interim vice chancellor for academic and student affairs in 2003.
Heckler arrived at the University of Colorado in 1995 where he served initially as the director of the School of the Arts. In 1998, working in close collaboration with the faculty of the school, Heckler founded the College of Arts & Media (CAM), the first new college at CU in over a quarter century, and was appointed as its founding dean. Under his leadership, the college grew rapidly and is now the third largest college at UC Denver.
For the Downtown Campus, Heckler was an integral player in the creation of the $40 million Kenneth King Academic and Performing Arts Center that opened in fall 2000. Heckler served as a co-founder of the Starz FilmCenter, now one of the nation’s pre-eminent centers for independent cinema and home of the highly acclaimed Denver International Film Festival.
Chancellor Wilson notes that at every meeting he attends, one question has prevailed: Who is going to replace Mark Heckler as provost?
“What they’re really asking is, ‘Where and how are we going to find a clone of Mark Heckler?’ ”
Photo: Linda Brooker, center, and Paula Wallace from the Business School thank Mark Heckler for his accessibility to staff and faculty and years of service at the university.