Beate Schmittman, one of five finalists for the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, spoke at an open forum on Thursday.

Schmittmann discussed her feelings on leadership, diversity and possible challenges at Iowa State that she would like to meet.

“A passion for public higher education,” is just one of several reasons for why Schmittmann is interested in the dean position. Currently, she is the chair of the department of physics at Virginia Tech.

Schmittmann compared her thoughts on running several departments within a college to when she played with Legos as a child. “There are a lot of pieces to work with and you’re really trying to figure out how to put them together in a way…that the whole is better than the parts.”

If selected as dean, Schmittmann hopes to make Iowa State, “a national and international model for 21st century liberal arts education.”

At each open forum students as well as faculty have had the opportunity to ask questions and critique each finalist. There is one more finalist, Doug Epperson, to hold his open forum on Monday the 7th.