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Chad Heins, Associate Professor for the Biology Department, in front of a gray mottled background.

Chad Heins

Associate Professor
Department: Biology Department
Phone: 507-344-7327
Office Location: Meyer Hall 209
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Bethany Lutheran College > Faculty and Staff Profiles > Profiles > Faculty Profiles > Chad Heins

Education

  • B. S. in Communication and Biology from Wisconsin Lutheran College-Milwaukee, WI
  • M. S. in Biology from Minnesota State University-Mankato-Mankato, MN

Academic Interests

I find the diversity of God’s created life forms absolutely fascinating and have broad interests. I discovered birds and birdwatching as a teenager and quickly became proficient in bird identification. A basic knowledge of plants was expanded in graduate school when I did a comprehensive floral survey for my thesis. That experience also opened my eyes to the smaller fauna of butterflies, dragonflies and beetles. To all of these things I have now added spiders.

Research

I have two research interests:

First, I am mapping spider distributions in Minnesota. I utilize both crowd-sourced data collected by iNaturalist as well as data from collection efforts during the summer months. I enjoy the fieldwork which allows me to explore the state of Minnesota and affords me the joy of finding new county or state records (or even undescribed species). I also serve as a contributing editor on BugGuide where I help to improve the spider portions of the Guide (https://bugguide.net/node/view/15740).

Second, I am still interested in birds and serve as the coordinator for the Bethany Hawkwatch in Mankato. Community volunteers, Bethany staff and students collect data on migratory raptors as they pass through the Minnesota River Valley at Mankato. Many of these birds pass directly over the Bethany campus on their journey to South America. More information can be found here.

Professional Memberships

  • American Arachnological Society
  • Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union
  • Hawk Migration Association

Presentations/Publications

  • Heins, Chad. 2013. Flycatchers Disabled by Mud. The Loon 85 (3): 150-151.
  • Heins, Chad and Jim Amundson. 2021. Mississippi Kite Family in Mankato. The Loon 93 (2): 105-106.

Teaching Philosophy

I believe that students learn the most when they are challenged and I prefer to lead students to the answer rather than provide it directly.

Biography

After I finished college, I spent a couple of summers as a tour driver in Denali National Park in central Alaska. I was a part-time outdoor educator in Racine, Wisconsin when I was blessed with the opportunity to teach zoology at Bethany. I have been enjoying the challenges of teaching and learning at Bethany since January 2000.

My wife and I are transplants from Wisconsin where we met in college. We have four children who somehow have grown up to be teenagers and college students. We are members at St. Paul’s in North Mankato where we serve in a variety of ministries.

Hobbies/Interests

My hobbies very much align with my professional interests. I enjoy traveling to look for birds and spiders and dabble in photography and writing.