Dani Hiar, a 1991 graduate of Wayland High School, essentially has completed requirements for earning her doctorate in educational leadership from Central Michigan University.

Hiar said, “I successfully defended my dissertation today (Monday, Oct. 5) and aside from a few revisions and some paperwork have successfully earned my doctorate.”

Hiar went to Northwestern Michigan College after high school, earned an associate’s degree in commercial art, transferred to Grand Valley State University and received her bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design in 1996. She continued at GVSU and completed work on her master of education degree in higher education administration.

Hiar then worked at Davidson College in North Carolina before accepting a position at CMU as a graphic designer and leadership development coordinator.

She earned an Ed.S. in 2012, and now has completed her Ed.D., both in educational administration.
“My official title at the university is Assistant Director of Marketing and Leadership Safari,” she noted. “I coordinate marketing and design efforts for the Office of Residence Life, am the director for a student-run design office, and am the director for the new student leadership programs at CMU, Leadership Safari.”

PHOTO: Dani Hiar