To: All UB Employees

From: Bruce D. McCombe, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

I am pleased to report that the search for the next dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is underway. College of Arts and Sciences dean, Bruce Pitman and SUNY Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Venu Govindaraju have accepted my invitation to serve as co-chairs. 

As you know, Dr. Rajan Batta has been serving as first acting and then interim dean of SEAS since April of 2011, when Dr. Harvey Stenger was asked to serve as interim provost. Since Dr. Stenger has left UB, it is important that we move forward and commence an international search for UB’s next dean of SEAS.

The search committee is comprised of faculty members from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and other areas that regularly collaborate with the faculty of the SEAS. I am grateful to the members of the search committee for their willingness to assist UB in recruiting an outstanding individual for this important university leadership position. Members of the search committee include:

• Diana Aga, Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences

• Amy Bisantz, Professor, Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, School of Engineering Applied Sciences

• Michael Cain, Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

• Alexander Cartwright, Vice President of Research and Economic Development

• Dennis Elsenbeck, Chair of SEAS Dean’s Advisory Council, Regional Executive of Energy Solutions Services, National Grid's Western Division

• June Hoeflich, University at Buffalo Council Member

• Lindsey Kehl, Student Representative, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

• Hui Meng, Professor, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Toshiba Stroke Center, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering and Biological Sciences

• Sheldon Park, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

• Teresa Quattrin, UB Distinguished Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences

• Alan Rabideau, Professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Under the leadership of Dean Pitman and Professor Govindaraju, and with the support of the search committee, I have every confidence that our search for the next dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences will be a great success. We have secured the services of Dr. Ilene Nagel, head of the higher education practice for Russell Reynolds, to assist the search committee. Dr. Nagel has held faculty and senior administrative posts at numerous AAU institutions, and has assisted UB in multiple senior leadership searches, including the recent presidential search, the current provost search, and the search that resulted in the appointment of Harvey Stenger as dean of SEAS.  The search committee and search firm will be involved in recruitment activities through the summer. We expect on-campus visits by finalists for the position in the fall semester, and hope to have the new dean in place by January, 2013. Throughout the next months as the search moves forward, Dean Pitman and Professor Govindaraju will communicate to the university the committee’s progress in fulfilling their charge.