Civil Engineering professor recognized with National Excellence in Teaching Award

Jose Vasconcelos, assistant professor of civil engineering, has received the 2014 James M. Robbins National Excellence in Teaching Award from Chi Epsilon, the national civil engineering honor society. Chi Epsilon aims to honor engineers who have exemplified the principles of scholarship, character, practicality and sociability throughout the engineering profession.

Vasconcelos was nominated in recognition of his teaching from Auburn University’s chapter of Chi Epsilon. He was selected as the Southeast district winner before being chosen from a larger pool of all district winners from across the country.

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College of Business gets new Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs

Dr. Stanley Harris has served as Academic Director of the Physicians Executive MBA Program and Director of the Ph.D. in Business Management Concentration since 1996.

Redesign the MBA curriculum. Expand international programs and awareness. Coordinate faculty efforts within the MBA programs. Make a positive difference in people’s lives.

Those are the challenges, and opportunities, Dr. Stanley Harris faces as new Associate Dean for Graduate and International Programs within the Auburn University’s College of Business.

Harris, Torchmark Professor of Management, has been at Auburn since 1986 and has served as Academic Director of the Physicians Executive MBA Program and Director of the Ph.D. in Business Management Concentration since 1996, will succeed Dr. Daniel Gropper, effective July 1.

A veteran of Lowder Hall since 1988, Gropper will become Dean of the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University.

“Dr. Harris has a long and distinguished record as an innovator, educator and leader in our graduate programs,” said College of Business Dean and Wells Fargo Professor Dr. Bill Hardgrave. “He inherits a very successful graduate program and a burgeoning international program.  I am confident his leadership will lead these programs to new heights in the future.”

Auburn’s Graduate MBA programs have been recognized nationally and internationally by a number of respected publications. The Executive MBA (EMBA) program was named Best Remote Learning Program in North America by European CEO Magazine, the online MBA program was ranked No. 7 nationally in January byU.S. News & World Report, and Auburn was ranked 16th nationally among business schools with online MBA programs by Poets & Quants.

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Grant will help launch Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Sciences

Cheryl Seals

Cheryl Seals, faculty member in Auburn University’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, and partners at Clemson University, University of Alabama, Carnegie Mellon University, Rice University, University of Wisconsin and Winston-Salem State University, have received a National Science Foundation grant of more than $5 million to launch an Institute for African-American Mentoring in Computing Sciences.

The institute will serve as a national resource and emphasize mentoring as the primary strategy for increasing African-American participation in computing. It aims to increase the number of African-American doctoral graduates entering the workforce with a research focus, as well as retain and advance African-American faculty and researchers by developing leaders with computing expertise in higher education, government and industry.

Nicholas Giordano named COSAM dean

Nicholas Giordano has been named dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics, effective Aug. 5.

Following a national search, Purdue University Professor and Head of the Department of Physics Nicholas Giordano has been named dean of the Auburn University College of Sciences and Mathematics, effective Aug. 5.

“The experience Dr. Giordano brings from both the classroom and administrative perspectives will be very valuable not only to the college but the university as a whole,” said Auburn Provost Tim Boosinger. “We look forward to the level of leadership he will provide.”

Giordano began his tenure at Purdue in 1979, first as assistant professor, then rising through the ranks to become head of the Department of Physics in 2007. Among his research interests are the physics of nanostructures and mesoscopic systems; musical acoustics and the physics of the piano; and computational neuroscience and physics.

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Auburn professor to vie for SEC Professor of the Year

Pradeep Lall

Auburn University and the Southeastern Conference announced today that Professor Pradeep Lall of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering has been honored with the SEC’s Auburn University Faculty Achievement Award for 2012-2013.

Lall, the T. Walter Professor of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Vehicle and Extreme Electronics at Auburn, will receive a $5,000 honorarium, and he becomes Auburn’s nominee for the SEC Professor of the Year, who will be selected from 14 nominees representing SEC universities.

“Dr. Lall is an outstanding faculty member who is truly dedicated to his students, colleagues and his profession,” said Timothy Boosinger, Auburn University provost and vice president for academic affairs. “His work is exceptional and we are pleased to recognize his accomplishments.”

The SEC Faculty Achievement Awards, created to recognize faculty accomplishments, scholarly contributions and discoveries, were established by the SEC presidents and chancellors and are administered by the SEC provosts. The awards were first presented in 2012.

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