It’s been three months already since civil engineering professor Feniosky Peña-Mora resigned as SEAS dean after that awkward “faculty revolt.” But steps are finally being taken to fill the void.

As Margaret Mattes reported in today’s paper, the dean search committee is holding a town hall meeting tomorrow to hear what students want from their next dean.

Assuming a majority of the SEAS community will not be present at this meeting tomorrow, I reached out to a few SEAS students and asked what they want to see from the next dean. Read on after the jump:

“I want to see an increased effort to have companies and graduate schools view Columbia as a first-class engineering school and not just a liberal arts college,” said Brittany Becker, SEAS ’14. “I want to see increased funding and grants available for individual research projects and entrepreneurship activities.”

Becker also mentioned an interest in connecting with engineering schools abroad that have “similar curricular approaches” to increase study abroad opportunities, a conflict with most SEAS schedules.

Meanwhile, SEAS University Senator Akshay Shah points to more interpersonal needs.

“The most important thing would be that he be respected by the faculty at Columbia Engineering and be able to understand the culture that exists here,” said Shah. “It would also be great if he is able to maintain the level of interaction that Dean Peña-Mora had with students.”

However if you’re like Kelly Zhang, SEAS ’14, and “not sure what the dean actually does,” then be sure to attend the town hall tomorrow from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Davis Auditorium in Schapiro CESPR.