After a national search, and the great work of diverse institutional search committees, Life University is proud to announce new deans in both the College of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies and the College of Chiropractic, effective January 3, 2022.
College of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies
Dr. Cathy Faust will serve as Life U’s next Dean of the College of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies (CGUS). Dr. Faust is an experienced educator and administrator with more than 23 years of experience at Life University. She has served as a faculty member and Department Chair/Assistant Dean of the Sport Health Science program. As a faculty member, she primarily taught at the graduate level in the area of physiological testing and cardiovascular physiology.
Dr. Faust has experience in accreditation and curriculum design. She has served on many key college and university committees, has a strong record of community volunteer work and has given several invited presentations and conducted several research projects.
Before coming to Life U, Dr. Faust spent 10 years in the clinical setting specializing in cardiac rehabilitation and cardiology as both a clinician and administrator. She also served as Vice President of Clinical Operations for Heart Alert, which specialized in cardiac monitoring. She developed patient monitoring protocols and was involved in research and development, which led to a successful FDA submission for an over-the-counter cardiac device.
She earned both her B.S. and M.S. from Eastern Kentucky University. She was a scholar-athlete and was on multiple Ohio Valley Conference Championship teams in cross country and track and field. She completed her Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Texas Woman’s University where she specialized in exercise and nutritional research related to osteoporosis. She served as both a research and teaching assistant during graduate school.
College of Chiropractic
Dr. Michael Clusserath will serve as Life U’s next Dean of the College of Chiropractic (COC).
Dr. Clusserath has 22 years of higher education experience and arrived at Life U in 2012. He earned a B.S. degree in zoology from Washington State University and graduated from Palmer-West with a D.C. degree. While at Life U, he has served as associate dean in managing the COC curriculum, supervised the academic divisions, assisted with the completion project task group, coordinated the remediation and retest project, and served on the assessment council to ensure compliance with accreditation meta-competency outcomes requirements; he most recently served as the Director of Clinics. His experience also includes service on numerous college and university committees.
Dr. Clusserath maintained a private practice for 12 years before becoming a faculty clinician and lecture instructor at Sherman College in 2000, then served as the Dean of Chiropractic Health Services. While at Sherman, he also led the curriculum revision and spearheaded the plan for resolution of CCE accreditation concerns.
Founded in 1974, Life University is a health sciences institution most known for its College of Chiropractic, the largest single-campus College of Chiropractic in the world. Students can pursue 14 undergraduate degrees; a pre-chiropractic, degree-seeking pathway; and three graduate degrees within the College of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies. Some degree programs are offered to distance learners through the College of Online Education.
Life University strives to empower its students to succeed both professionally and personally. Life U advances a leading-edge approach to higher education while also remaining true to the University’s philosophical commitment to produce informed leaders who exemplify humanistic values in their professions. To achieve this goal, Life U recognizes and demonstrates its dedication through three official Life University Values: Lasting Purpose, Vitalism and Integrity.
Life U’s 110-acre campus just northwest of Atlanta is home to more than 2,800 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who come from all 50 United States and more than 65 countries. For more information on Life University, please visit life.edu.
