So Skorton named engineering dean Kent Fuchs the fifteenth provost of the University today: Under Fuchs' guidance, the College of Engineering initiated a collaborative strategic planning process to place the college in a position of international leadership. The plan led to the formation of a new Department of Biomedical Engineering, a revision of the undergraduate curriculum with new undergraduate majors in environmental engineering and -- in concert with the Faculty of Computing and Information Science -- in information science, systems and technology, and new graduate programs in engineering management and systems engineering. It also led to the creation of a teaching excellence institute and the completion of a comprehensive facilities master plan. Under Fuchs' deanship, the college also established a financial engineering master's program in Manhattan, a co-terminal degree program in France, and research and educational partnerships in China, India and Europe.At Fuchs' reappointment to a second term as engineering dean in 2006, Martin praised him for "strong and effective leadership"; calling him "a spectacular administrator [who] has made significant contributions to the quality and vitality of the college."
It's not altogether surprising. And I'm not entirely qualified to comment on Fuch's qualifications for the job, suffice to say that he was re-appointed for the Engineering deanship and Martin thought highly of him.
Even so, there are a couple of things to note:
-- Fuchs will be the first non-humanist as Cornell's provost in quite some time. Biddy Martin was a humanist in the German and Women's Studies departments. And Don Randel was in the Music Department as provost before Biddy, before he left for the presidency at the University of Chicago. I doubt this means anything, however. What's most important is that the provost can build bridges and get everybody in the University on the same boat.
-- Yet another member of Day Hall will come from the endowed side of Cornell. While vice-provost Ron Seeber obviously manages a lot of the University's relations with Albany, it may take Fuchs some getting used to dealing with a non-private source of funding. While he was previously head of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue which had some interaction with government, Cornell and dealing with New York State's dysfunctional government during a time of fiscal crisis is another beast altogether.
-- Fuchs has a degree in divinity from the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. What has become of Ezra's godless University?
-- P.S. What an interesting surname. The undergrads are going to have a field day mispronouncing that one. Update: Reader KB writes in to say that Fuchs is pronounced as if it was spelled "Fox".
