Room E-509 of the Harris Fine Arts Center is home to the BYU Department of Visual Arts (DVA). It is here that everything must come together in order to enable the success of BYU’s painters, art educators, art historians, graphic designers, animators, sculptors, illustrators and photographers. Each department in the college has a secretary, and there are few as seasoned as Sharon Heelis, who recently hit her 34-year mark as the secretary for the department.
BYU’s DVA provides hundreds of students with the resources they need to succeed in painting, animation, sculpture, illustration and photography. Behind all the classes and professors there is a department secretary whose job it is to make sure things can get done efficiently. Heelis excels in this role, and plans to continue to do so.
Heelis was raised in Payson, Utah, and is the oldest of six children. She attended BYU, and then decided to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She started in the Chile Concepcion Mission, but after the mission split, she finished in the Chile Osorno Mission. Once Heelis returned home, she worked at a clothing manufacturer (Barbizon) that made women’s lingerie and nightgowns instead of returning to college, but soon the company was downsized.
“That’s when I came to BYU and started looking for a job,” Heelis said. “My bishop worked for the department, and so I was able to secure an interview with the department chair.”
Heelis was hired, and began as a student secretary. While there, the gallery secretary quit, so she took the opportunity to work full time. She has been working full-time for the department ever since. She decided to go back to school, and after taking classes over a few years she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art history in 1997.
Heelis said her love for the arts has kept her here for this long.
“My job has always been fun,” Heelis said. “I love the variety, and I have really come to appreciate the arts. Creativity is a big part of our lives. Even math and English have to be created. Everybody has to have a creative outlet no matter who they are. It doesn’t mean you need to find a cure for cancer; you just need to have some kind of hobby.”
Heelis has found how working with her hands provides a necessary creative outlet for her. As such, she is an avid basket weaver, and also enjoys spending time with her siblings, most of whom live in Utah.
Linda Reynolds, the department chair, expressed her gratitude for Heelis’ work ethic.
“Sharon is central to any activity that is undertaken in the department because she is intrinsically involved in almost every aspect of department life,” Reynolds said. “She is the greatest facilitator, working closely with the faculty to identify and resolve issues of concern.”
Reynolds wishes that every departmental secretary could possess Heelis’ qualities.
“She treats everyone she meets with the greatest professionalism and respect,” Reynolds said. “Every department should have such a supportive, hardworking, engaged, loyal and devoted colleague.”