PUC Chronicle

Issue date: 2/5/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Nathyn D. Gibson Potential Dean Cliff Mirman discusses the topic of achieving the next strategic level of excellence.

A new dean of the school of technology will soon be hired by the strategic planning committee. Campus presentations were held Monday and Thursday in Alumni Hall about the candidates for the position. At the start of Monday's meeting, Professor Jane Walker introduced the four candidates applying for the position with a brief background of what positions and the various duties they hold at their current schools.
The candidates are Clifford Mirman, Ph.D, P.E., professor and chairman of the department of technology at Northern Illinois University; Niaz Latif, professor and assistant dean of the statewide technology administration at Purdue University West Lafayette; Altaf A. Memon, Ph.D faculty member at Excelsior College school of business and technology; Benjamin L. Lee, acting associate dean of engineering, computer science and technology at California State University at Los Angeles.
Mirman's responsibilities include communicating with departmental faculty, interacting with college and university administration, course scheduling and hiring faculty.
Latif's responsibilities include attending seminars to relate to effective teaching and workshops related to faculty development and mentoring his students.
Memon's responsibilities include higher education administration, institutional development, academic leadership, strategic planning and budgeting.
Lee's different responsibilities include managing a $6.7 million annual budget and supervising as the college resource manager. Lee also manages curriculum development with course scheduling and enrollment.
Each of the four candidates discussed their various viewpoints in a powerpoint presentation called "The National Trends in Engineering and Technology Education" to PUC faculty members.
In Latif's presentation, he focused on the collegiate environment - the enrollment, gender and diversity trends on campus. Latif discussed teaching education on a strategic level. He hopes to get PUC to the next level with quality programming and developing leadership and strategic planning.
Mirman's presentation explored the current trends of technology.
"[PUC needs to take] undergraduate and graduate students to the next level for rewarding careers. This will empower the students to succeed as productive citizens and lifelong learners," Mirman said.
Mirman also discussed his involvement in the project smile program. The program deals with technology based models to get high school students interested in engineering and technology. He wants to promote experimental learning such as the co-op program and working on funding programs, and developing faculty clusters.

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