Search for College of Engineering Dean Nearing Completion at UA
by February 4, 2013 12:00 am 71 views
A fourth candidate recently was added as a finalist to be the next dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Arkansas.
David W. Cordes, head of the department of computer science at the University of Alabama, was announced as the final candidate Jan. 22.
Finalists named earlier in January were Kim Needy, head of the department of industrial engineering at the UA; Mohammad Kiani, chairman of the department of mechanical engineering at Temple University; and John English, dean of the College of Engineering at Kansas State University.
English and Cordes are UA graduates. English also previously served as head of the department of industrial engineering at the UA.
The university is searching for a replacement for Ashok Saxena, who led the department for nine years. Saxena left the UA in July to become vice chancellor at Galgotias University, a private, multidisciplinary research university near Delhi, India.
Terry Martin, associate dean of the College of Engineering, has been serving as interim dean while the search is being conducted.
All of the candidates have visited the campus and met with constituent groups to discuss their vision for the College of Engineering, said Jim Rankin, vice provost for research and economic development at the UA and head of the search committee. Rankin said the committee is soliciting candidate evaluations from those constituent groups, with the goal of providing a recommendation to Sharon Gaber, the university’s provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, by March 1.
According to the UA website, the College of Engineering had 2,374 undergraduate students — a 51 percent increase since 2007 — 870 graduate students, 123 full-time faculty and 121 staff in the 2011-12 academic year.
The College of Engineering has eight academic departments offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees and PhDs. The academic departments are biological, biomedical, chemical, civil, computer science and computer engineering, electrical, mechanical and industrial engineering.