Nasrin
Rahimieh
McMaster Dean of Humanities
Dr. Nasrin Rahimieh believes the secret to lifelong leadership is having
passion for your work. Rahimieh is about investing energy in life and
contributing herself to something constructive, which led her to make
the career choices she did. After immigrating to Canada, Rahimieh began
her career as a professor in Alberta, and found that teaching had a direct
impact on her life, and the life of her students. She also took on the
associate dean position, working with the department on a different level
of challenges, planning, and thinking about the future of Humanities.
Currently, as the McMaster Dean of Humanities, Rahimieh is very involved
in engaging and changing what is happening around us and within us. Part
of leadership is being motivated to want to move and see new things -
there’s always more to learn somewhere else. Rahimieh felt she had
learned all she could about leadership in AB, and could now integrate
that knowledge at McMaster. Some challenges Rahimieh finds in her leadership
roles here are managing time – both of the faculty and herself,
as well as giving herself time to reflect upon her decisions. Rahimieh
finds the rewards of leadership are plentiful, such as seeing her work
with a group flourish. Through her role as dean, Rahimieh finds that the
key to leadership is immersing oneself in learning – never straying
too far from the question of life. Also, a leader has to be a very good
listener, with the desire to hear people out and the willingness to participate
in a team. When leadership and learning go hand-in-hand, the opportunities
are enormous!