Kathleen Enz Finken

New Member

Kathleen Enz Finken attended the Syracuse University School of Architecture from 1978-80, and graduated with a B.A. in Art History, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Douglass College for Women in 1983. She received a Ph.D. in art history from Rutgers University (1998), specializing in Roman Imperial and Early Christian art and architecture. Her area of expertise is the art of the catacombs—the vast underground cemeteries surrounding the ancient city of Rome and used by Christian Romans from the second through the early fifth centuries.

Enz Finken joined the faculty of Minnesota State University Moorhead (MSUM) in 1993. She served as Chair of the Department of Art and Design from 2000-2002, and as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities from 2003-2004 before being appointed Dean of that college in June, 2004. She was appointed Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UW-L) in May, 2008.

During her tenure at MSUM, Enz Finken served on numerous college, university, and state-wide committees, including the HLC North Central Association Reaccreditation Steering Committee, the Foundations of Excellence Steering Committee, the Student Success Institute, the Academic Policy Advisory Council, and the MSUM Collective Bargaining Team. While a faculty member, she was elected to Phi Kappa Phi, and received both an Academic Affairs Award for Excellence in Teaching and an Academic Affairs Award for Service to the University. As a community member, Enz Finken has served on both non-profit and corporate boards, as well as on the City of Moorhead Executive Planning Committee and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Trustee Candidate Advisory Council.

As Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at UW-L, Enz Finken oversees the Colleges of Business Administration, Science and Health, and Liberal Studies, as well as the School of Education, Graduate and Continuing Education, the library, International Education, and Enrollment Services. In 2008-2009, she led the implementation of the Growth, Quality and Access initiative, hiring over 60 new faculty and staff members. She was further instrumental in the development of the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning. She is currently co-leader of the campus Inclusive Excellence diversity initiative. She served as a member of the University of Wisconsin System “Research to Jobs” Task Force, and was recently appointed to the Learn@UW Executive Committee.

A former participant in a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar on Ancient Roman Religion at the American Academy in Rome, Enz Finken has excavated Byzantine, Greek, and Roman ruins in Cyprus, and led numerous study tours abroad. She and her husband, Gerald Finken, live in La Crosse. They have two grown sons and three grandchildren.