Posts Tagged ‘feniosky peña-mora’
SEAS dean search down to Final Four
We got word a few minutes ago that Provost John Coatsworth emailed SEAS alumni a list of four finalist candidates for the school’s top job. The next dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science will be one of the following people:
- Mary Cunningham Boyce (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
- Andrew Gellman (Carnegie Mellon University)
- Donald Goldfarb (Columbia)
- Paul Weiss (University of California, Los Angeles)
Boyce is the head of MIT’s mechanical engineering department; Gellman is the head of CMU’s chemical engineering department; Weiss is the director of UCLA’s NanoSystems Institute. Goldfarb, of course, is the current interim dean of SEAS.
SEAS has been without a permanent dean since Feniosky Peña-Mora resigned last July following a faculty revolt. Coatsworth said in his email that the search committee hopes to choose a permanent dean by the middle of this semester.
Check back later for a full story from the News Desk, and see after the jump for Coatsworth’s full email. More »
Goldfarb would take dean job permanently, and more from SEAS
Spectator journeyed deep into Mudd this month to chat with Donald Goldfarb. He may be the interim dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, but he said he’d be happy to take on the job permanently. Below, some other highlights from the interview, including the fundraising and recruiting the school is doing, study abroad for SEAS students, and the development of the Institute for Data Sciences:
- Although Goldfarb, who was appointed interim dean in July, is not involved directly in the search process for a permanent SEAS dean, he said that he suggested a few search committee members to University Provost John Coatsworth last month. Goldfarb said he’d be honored if he were considered as a candidate. “I would be happy to be a candidate,” he said. “I would hope that the committee would view me favorably. I would hope that the Provost and the President enjoy interacting with me.”
- One of the primary complaints lodged about former dean Feniosky Peña-Mora, who resigned in July, was that he did not understand the atmosphere and operations of the school because he did not have a background at Columbia. While the dean search committee has made the decision to consider both internal and external candidates, Goldfarb acknowledged that the move to any institution is often a difficult one. “Every University is different,” he said. “Every school has its own culture and history. Very often, when you bring someone from the outside, they don’t understand the culture and it’s hard.” More »
Deans, diversity, and data science
On Friday, Spectator’s News Desk sat down with Provost John Coatsworth, the University’s chief academic officer, to talk about topics ranging from the search for a new SEAS dean to funding for faculty diversity. Some highlights from the interview:
- Administrators are in the process of hiring a search firm to work with the recently announced search committee for a permanent dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Coatsworth, who will chair the committee, described the ideal candidate for the job:
“We need somebody who can provide a vision and leadership for the school. We need someone who has managerial or administrative experience that can help the school realize that vision, expand, and do it in an orderly step-by-step way that will bring along the faculty and the students. And we need someone whose academic and other credentials are impeccable—who has made a contribution to some field of engineering that everybody recognizes as important.”
- The committee will consider both internal and external candidates, even though one of professors’ main concerns with former dean Feniosky Peña-Mora—who resigned in July after a faculty revolt—was that he was an outsider to Columbia before being hired as dean in 2009. Coatsworth acknowledged that concern, but said that the committee would consider external candidates because “there are lots of folks with a sharp learning curve that might be able to do it.” More »
This week in ESC: Getting back to business
- ESC President Tim Qin, SEAS ’13, spent some time describing about the newly announced search committee for a permanent dean of SEAS, of which he is a member. The committee will have its first meeting next week.
- Former School of Engineering and Applied Science dean Feniosky Peña-Mora, who resigned in July, was heavily involved in undergraduate student life issues. Qin said that student life issues are now being handled by SEAS vice dean Soulaymane Kachani, rather than by Interim Dean Donald Goldfarb. More »
Let the experts decide Peña-Mora’s fate
The race card has been played over and over during SEAS Dean Peña-Mora’s battle to keep his position, but New York City Council member Ydanis Rodriguiez just initiated a game of 52 Pickup.
Rodriguez, a Dominican-American who represents Inwood, Washington Heights, and Marble Hill (all predominantly Dominican neighborhoods), has led the charge in rallying his residents to steadfastly defend Peña-Mora, who happens to be…you guessed it, a Dominican-American.
However, this sudden rally by Rodriguez is similar to the kind of opportunistic Sharpton-esque behavior that others have used to blackmail communities in defending individuals who merely happen to share a genetic trait. The three-year City Council member recently went as far as as saying, “the community is on alert” for any attempt to remove Peña-Mora. What is this, a hockey team ready to scrap if their star player gets checked into the boards too hard? Have the two even met? More »
Supporters outside gates for Peña-Mora
Some people have gathered outside the 116th gates in support of Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Today’s demonstration comes after a turbulent two years for the dean, in which the chairs of nine SEAS departments gave him a private letter outlining his supposed failures, and then the next semester made things public by expressing their discontent in a letter to Provost Coatsworth which was obtained by the New York Times. While some faculty are still pushing strongly for his resignation, it’s clear that not all in the Columbia community want to show him the door.
Mrinal Mohanka / Spec
Life imitates Lemon
30 Rock had a live episode last night. Maybe it’s just because of my well-documented admiration for Tina Fey, or because I once wore a hat with a piece of masking tape that said “Night Cheese” on it to her book signing, or because most people I meet here seem to harbor a secret or overt crush on Alec Baldwin, but a lot of the lines struck me as especially relevant to this moment in Columbia’s history.
“Glamour, excitement, what we today would call alcoholism.”
To the senior class. This one’s pretty self-explanatory.
“Nine out of ten doctors surveyed said, ‘Who is this? Why are you calling so late?’”
To everyone who works for the Senior Fund. Again, this one is fairly obvious. Let’s move on. More »
This week in ESC: Peña-Mora in the house
Jordan Freisleben reports on last night’s Engineering Student Council meeting:
- Housing, housing, housing: Vice President of Policy Logan Donovan, SEAS ’13, announced that ESC has approved resolutions for changes to housing procedures for both 3-2 program students and sophomores. Donovan said that the housing lottery for students in the 3-2 program has been moved to earlier in the year, to the fall, in the hopes that 3-2 students will be eligible to be Resident Advisers. The other housing resolution would require rising sophomores to form even-numbered groups in suite selection.
This week in ESC: Average GPAs, please
Worried about your GPA for that finance or consulting job? Want to vent to Dean PeMo? Jordan Freisleben brings you the highlights from last night’s Engineering Student Council meeting:
- GPAverage: Class of 2014 Vice President Sidd Bhatt, SEAS ’14, met with Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora on Monday to discuss publicly releasing the average GPA of SEAS students. Some ESC members believe that releasing the average SEAS GPA would give students an understanding of where they stand, as well as address the concerns of students who believe that employers aren’t evaluating their GPAs in terms of their coursework. More »
Public GPAs, Carlton renovations, and advising
Highlights from last night’s Engineering Student Council meeting:
- Many ESC members expressed interest in publicly releasing the average GPA of SEAS students, so that engineering students know how they compare to Columbia College students. Some members said it would also be useful if employers knew the difference between CC and SEAS GPAs, so that they would know to judge CC and SEAS students’ GPAs differently. ESC President Nate Levick, SEAS ’12, and Dean of Advising Monique Rinere, who was at the meeting, said this is an issue that would have to be dealt with by SEAS Dean Feniosky Peña-Mora. More »