Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Paul Faber
Hi. I’m Paul Faber, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at FHSU. I came here as a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy in 1983. Before that I taught at Marquette University in Milwaukee and at my alma mater, Calvin College in Grand Rapids. My graduate education was at the University of Notre Dame.
In 1990 I began serving as the Chair of the Department of Philosophy, in 2000 I became the interim Dean of Arts and Sciences, and then in 2001 the “interim” was dropped from the title.
In my view, education is a controlled and concentrated preparation for life—a sort of orange juice that needs to be stirred up with the world outside the university—and a liberal arts education is a preparation for living life to the fullest. We strive to understand who we are and how we are connected to God, the human community, and the physical world; we try to develop skills and abilities to work with others and develop our own lives; we value, appreciate, and enjoy the wonders of human culture and the natural world. Working with faculty to try to give students this sort of opportunity is a great privilege and a delight (most of the time, at least).
FHSU and the State of Kansas are part of a great democratic experiment, attempting to make the chance for an education available to people regardless of wealth or social position, and that is important to me, too. Most of us do not come from a background of wealth and privilege, but we all need the music, the physics, the philosophy, and a way of making a living that a university can make possible.
So whether you are a current student, a prospective student, one of our alumni, or a casual Web surfer, we would love to have you join the FHSU community in one way or another.
If you have questions or comments, I would be pleased to hear from you. My e-mail address is pfaber@fhsu.edu.