Provost Goes From Philly to Beantown; Business-School Association Picks Pioneer for Asia; RIT Opens Campus in Dubai

Article tools

Printer friendly	E-mail article	Subscribe	Order reprints
	Discuss any Chronicle article in our forums
Latest Headlines 150 Campuses Win Recognition in Survey of Great Colleges to Work For More than 300 four-year and two-year colleges signed up for the second annual survey by The Chronicle, and 39 were named to a new Honor Roll for their workplace policies. New Top Republican on House Panel: Washington Doesn't Always Know Best They Thought Globally, but Now Colleges Push Online Programs Locally Jill Biden Shines Global Spotlight on U.S. Community Colleges A Town Rich in Colleges and Cows Gains a Crown College Towns as Baby Names? A Few May Resist Trendiness Commentary Kevin Carey: Stanford U., Duke U., Rice U., ... and Gates U.?

By PAULA WASLEY, KATHERINE MANGAN, and RICHARD BYRNE

BOUND FOR BOSTON: Last month Stephen W. Director traded his position as provost at Drexel University for the title of provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Northeastern University.

Mr. Director, considered a pioneer in the field of computer-aided electronics engineering, says he was lured from the fast-expanding Philly institution to another private urban research university in full ramp-up mode, but in Boston, by the chance to work with President Joseph E. Aoun in shaping a new and improved Northeastern.

Since Mr. Aoun's arrival in 2006, the university has announced a $40-million faculty recruitment drive along with a plan to forge partnerships with other Boston institutions and expand Northeastern's global reach.

"It was a very interesting opportunity to work with a relatively new president early in his tenure as he's building up a new team and putting together an outstanding group of individuals," says Mr. Director. "I felt that I could contribute and help Northeastern, which has made tremendous progress in the past decade in many ways, to get to the next level."

At Northeastern, Mr. Director will turn his attention to promoting "use-inspired" and interdisciplinary research, expanding the university's experiential-education programs, and adding flexibility to the undergraduate curriculum.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Mr. Director headed the academy committee that produced the report, "Educating the Engineer of 2020," recommending an overhaul of the engineering curriculum. He was previously dean of engineering at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and Carnegie Mellon University.

Mr. Director, 65, holds doctoral and master's degrees from the University of California at Berkeley and a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He succeeds Ahmed Abdelal, who resigned in the spring to take a position as provost at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

***

NEW ORIENTATION: Eileen Peacock has an impressive new title to add to a résumé that already includes dean of the business college and professor of accounting at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Starting next June, she'll become a leader in the promotion of business schools in Asia.

She was appointed to the newly created position of vice president for Asia by AACSB International: the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. She will guide the association's expansion on that continent and direct its first headquarters outside the United States, which will be located in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, or Hong Kong.

Ms. Peacock, 63, has served as a mentor to dozens of business schools worldwide that are seeking AACSB accreditation.

Her new position will take her to a region with more than 4,300 schools offering business degrees.

"Forty-five percent of the world's business schools are located in Asia," says John J. Fernandes, president and chief executive of the business-schools association. Raising their standards will help American schools forming international partnerships, he says.

Ms. Peacock is looking forward to the challenge. "It is a bit daunting, but I think it will be very exciting," she says.

***

SILICON OASIS FOUNDED: One of the latest entrants in the race of U.S. colleges and universities to start new campuses in the Middle East is the Rochester Institute of Technology, which has created a new institution, RIT Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

The project is the brainchild of Mustafa A.G. Abushagur, 57, director of the institute's microsystems-engineering program, who has been named the first president of the new campus.

RIT Dubai will be a central element in the Dubai Silicon Oasis, a technology park that will focus on microelectronics and semiconductor research.

Mr. Abushagur says that he had the idea for the new campus three years ago, when he heard that the UAE was creating the center.

"Immediately, I thought, If they want to get into this industry, these people will need training," he recalls. "And [RIT] has the only undergraduate degree in microelectronics manufacturing. So clearly we are in a position to help them train their people."

A late start in announcing the opening and the need to build housing for students mean that the campus may not hit its initial goal of 100 students, he says. "If we make 50," he adds, "we'll be happy."

Before arriving at RIT, Mr. Abushagur was a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a professor of optical science and engineering at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. He received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology.