It is with great pride and honor that I join the University of Rhode Island as dean of the College of Engineering. I am impressed with the history of the College, its alumni, faculty, staff, and students. I am ecstatic about the College’s potential for achieving the next level of excellence in its education and research programs. As I begin this new position, my thanks go to all of you – faculty, students, staff, alumni, and friends of the College – who have welcomed me and offered support. You have made my transition to URI much easier.

The past several years have been a period of tremendous change in the College. This is an opportune time to develop a strategic plan for the College that will guide our decisions and programmatic changes to expand resources while optimizing our performance.

Our mission is to provide quality engineering education and research programs that produce well-educated professionals for today’s global workplace; advance the creation, development, and use of applied sciences and technology; and stimulate sustainable economic development for our state, country, and the world.

As we define our own strategic plan in the College, we will integrate our plans with the University’s strategic plan, which focuses on the following three areas: 1) Enrollment, retention, and graduation 2) Revenue and operating costs 3) Research, outreach, and economic development

We have begun the process of reorganizing the dean’s office to better align the College with URI’s overall strategic direction by redefining our assistant and associate dean positions. Our new position of associate dean for research will focus on the research, outreach, economic development, revenue, and operating costs in the College. Our new position of associate dean for academics will focus on academics, diversity, enrollment, retention, graduation, and placement of our students. We have begun the search process and will announce the appointment by the end of the fall semester.

Our students tell us that we offer a high-quality engineering education at a reasonable price – “the best deal in New England.” With that in mind, we start new recruiting efforts to increase our enrollment. All indications are that the nation’s demand for engineers will continue to increase into the next decade and beyond. Since the pipeline for engineering is four to five years, we need to act now to be prepared.

Our efforts in recruiting also extend to new faculty. We have been successful in attracting five new professors to the College during the past year, and will continue our efforts in recruiting and retaining outstanding faculty.

The profile of our prospective students interested in graduate engineering education has changed significantly over the past decade. Many of our prospective students work full time at locations that are far from Kingston. Companies also provide full tuition reimbursement for their employees to continue their engineering education towards master’s degrees or specialized certificates. Technology now allows us to offer our courses anywhere, anytime through the Internet or on CD or DVD. We will be expanding the number of our course, degree, and certificate offerings to corporations. If you are one of our prospective students, or if you have coworkers who would be interested in our program offerings, please contact us.

Technology resources and the ability to access their potential not only affects educational methods but is a major factor in today’s engineering research. Our engineering faculty have done an excellent job of securing contract funding in highly competitive times. We have generated over $4 million in active contracts during the past year. Our goal is to double our research productivity in the College over the next \ three years.

Major initiatives in curriculum changes and programs are in progress as we prepare for our next accreditation visit in 2006. Our International Engineering Program continues to be one of the unique offerings of URI, with a strong enrollment. Our Ocean Engineering program provides an opportunity for engineering and oceanography to work together on a variety of research projects.

Preparation for ABET accreditation in 2006 will increase our focus on implementing and monitoring changes in the undergraduate degrees. The same process can bring significant improvements at the graduate level. We had a satisfactory ABET review in 2001 and must continue our efforts.

We need to expand valuable “outside” help in our endeavors. Our alumni provide direct support and an important link to the local and state community through their advice and financial contributions. In the few months that I have been here, our alumni have told me that they are ready for the challenge of helping the College of Engineering undertake a major initiative this year by providing the financial backing to create professorships, scholarships, deanships, and support of the College in its progress towards excellence.

Alumni and friends are responding during this time of tight state budgets and decreases in federal research expenditures with an increase in the number and total of their donations. Endowments and gifts will allow the College to continue steps towards academic excellence by providing funds for student scholarships, faculty development, and projects.

We are delighted that we have been able to bring the publication of the College newsletter back and have begun the process of taking this publication to the next level. This has been an important medium of communication for the faculty, staff, students and alumni to share the news and accomplishments of our College. Stay tuned for the spring issue.

These are just a few highlights for the fall semester. These objectives can only be accomplished through a team effort. As an alum or friend of the College, you are a part of our team and we need your interest and help in moving forward.

It is a pleasure to be serving as the dean of the College of Engineering and I look forward to working with our faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends as we begin a new phase in our progress towards excellence.

“ Major initiatives in curriculum changes and programs are in progress as we prepare for our next accreditation visit in 2006. ”