[CCoE Notice] Dean's Memo - August 2010

[Lewis, Lindsay R]

To view online, visit http://egr.uh.edu/newsletter/deansmemo/0810.html
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Dear Cullen College Faculty and Staff,

Welcome back to a new academic year at the Cullen College! There are many new additions to our faculty and staff across the college. Please join me in welcoming these new individuals-and the many freshmen students-to the University of Houston.

We've had quite a busy summer, so here are a few recent developments and upcoming events that I'd like to share with you:

BME PhD: The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has approved our request to establish a doctoral program in biomedical engineering. This is an extremely important milestone in our strategic plan and for UH Health, one of the major university research initiatives. Many thanks to Suresh Khator and Metin Akay for their efforts in getting this program launched.

Honors Program: The Honors Engineering Program is officially underway this semester. This new program provides high-achieving students a more comprehensive curriculum in addition to a variety of experiential learning activities.

New Master's Options: Two newly proposed Master's degree options have been approved by the UH Board of Regents: Petroleum Well Design Engineering and Petroleum Completion and Intervention. Both degree options will be presented before the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for approval this fall.

Wind ERC: The college is the lead institution in an effort to establish a National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for offshore wind energy at the University of Houston. There will be a site visit on Sept. 8-9 as part of this very competitive opportunity.

Entrepreneur Boot Camp: Julie Goonewardene and Jeff Warren from Purdue University will be at UH to lead Entrepreneur Boot Camp, a program designed to train faculty, staff and graduate students in entrepreneurship and commercialization. The event will be held on Sept. 21. A pre-boot camp survey <http://survey.egr.uh.edu/index.php?sid=29225&lang=en> was sent out to all faculty yesterday. Please take a moment to fill out this quick survey to assist us with the development of the program.

Energy Research Park: Petroleum engineering laboratory renovations at the UH Energy Research Park are on schedule. Those labs are scheduled to open this spring.

Enrollment: Overall enrollment for the fall semester is up 7% from fall 2009.

Chair Searches: We are still conducting national searches to name chairs for our departments of mechanical, and electrical and computer engineering. Hamid Parsaei, chair of industrial engineering, is on leave. Fritz Claydon is currently serving as interim chair of IE.

Engineering Communications: Join me in congratulating our Office of Communications for winning several regional awards from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, the Public Relations Society of America and the Houston Press for magazines, brochures and photography. Photography also captured several national awards from the University Photographers' Association of America.

Office Shuffle: In order to establish a more effective undergraduate student operation, all of our undergraduate program offices have been moved into one area on the third floor in building 2. The individuals/groups who have moved are listed below:

Undergraduate Programs/PROMES/Recruiting - E316 Engineering Bldg. 2
Dave Shattuck, associate dean for undergraduate programs
Kathy Zerda, PROMES director
Allison Swenson, director of recruiting
Shirley Mate, academic advisor 2
Lesley Sisk, academic advisor 3
Kenneth Garcia, academic advisor 1
Diana De la Rosa-Pohl, lecturer
Chad Willson, director of technical communication instruction
Barbara Torres, secretary 2

Communications - E301 Engineering Bldg. 2
Lindsay Lewis, director of communications
Andy Rich, senior graphic designer (new)
Tom Shea, photographer
Toby Weber, writer/editor (starting Sept. 7)
Kelly Williams, graphic designer
Harriet Yim, web developer

Dean's Office - E421 Engineering Bldg. 2
Suresh Khator, associate dean for graduate studies
Lisa Robertson, executive director of external relations and strategic partnerships
Russell Dunlavy, senior director of development
Jamie Fricks, secretary 2

Once again, thank you for your continued support and dedication.

Warm regards,

Joe Tedesco

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