Interim Dean for Engineering Appointed

Dr. Ping Hsu

Dr. Ping Hsu

Dear Campus Community,

I am very pleased to announce the selection of Dr. Ping Hsu as the interim dean for the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering, effective July 1, 2016. Dr. Hsu will succeed Dean Andrew Hsu at the end of the spring semester, when Andrew departs for the University of Toledo.

Dr. Hsu has served the College of Engineering in many leadership roles since joining the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1990. He was an associate dean of the college from 2001 to 2008 and interim dean from August 2012 to February 2013. He has been the director of the General Engineering Program since August 2015 and has served on the SJSU Research Foundation Board of Directors. His research interests include adaptive control, robotics, and wind power generation.

In 2014, he was awarded a summer visiting faculty position at the National Renewable Energy Lab under a U.S. Department of Energy program. His years of experience in the industry has led him to value the balance between the practical and theoretical aspects of engineering education, and the importance of developing industry and community partnerships.

Dr. Hsu graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1988, with a doctoral degree in electrical engineering. He holds a master’s in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University in Texas. He graduated from St. John’s and St. Mary’s Institute of Technology (presently St. John’s University) in Taiwan majoring in electronics engineering.

I am confident the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and supporters of the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering will find Dr. Ping Hsu to be a resourceful and capable leader. Please join me in congratulating him on his interim appointment.

Sincerely,

Andy Feinstein
Provost 

Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering Dean Andrew Hsu Resigns

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering Dean Andrew Hsu will be leaving San Jose State at the end of June to take on the role of provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at The University of Toledo, in Ohio.

We will soon commence a national search for his successor. In the meantime, I congratulate Dean Hsu on his new opportunity, thank him for his outstanding service, and acknowledge his many accomplishments.

Since joining SJSU as the Don Beall Dean of the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering in February 2013, Dean Hsu has been a strong proponent of the college’s unique role as the leading provider of engineering talent to Silicon Valley. Under his leadership, the college developed a five-year strategic plan that focuses on student success, teaching innovation, research and industry partnerships. The enrollment in engineering grew by 50 percent during the last three years and the college is now the largest engineering program in California. He has been a supporter of initiatives to increase diversity in STEM fields, and implemented several programs to promote student success.

Under his leadership, the college has developed new partnerships with Silicon Valley industries and private donors that have resulted in $6 million in donations, including endowments that support three industry chair professorships and the Carolyn Guidry Endowed Chair in Engineering Education. The alumni outreach initiative that Dean Hsu led is seeing great results in engagement activities through two new alumni committees. These connections have helped to foster a culture of research, scholarship and creative activity for students and faculty in the college, especially through organized research and training units such as the Silicon Valley Big Data and Cybersecurity Center and the Service Engineering Center.

We will be back in touch regarding plans to celebrate Andrew’s service to SJSU, and I will begin a consultation process to develop a leadership transition plan for the college.

Sincerely,

Andy Feinstein

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Interim AVP for Student Academic Sucess Services appointed

Stacy Gleixner, left, has been appointed the interim associate vice president for Student Academic Success Services. She will maintain her role as chief of staff to the president.

Stacy Gleixner, left, has been appointed the interim associate vice president for Student Academic Success Services. She will maintain her role as chief of staff to the president.

Dr. Stacy Gleixner has been appointed as the interim associate vice president for Student Academic Success Services, effective Feb. 8. Stacy will help to lead the ongoing conversation on student success as we finalize a university-wide plan this semester.

She has been chief of staff to the president since Aug. 2014 and will continue in that role, sharing time between the two positions. Stacy is deeply committed to supporting a smooth transition between presidents while also keeping the momentum going around campus priorities such as student success.

Stacy started as a lecturer at SJSU in the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering. She joined the faculty as an assistant professor in the Biomedical, Chemical and Materials Engineering Department in 1999, and became a full professor in 2011. She served as associate chair of the department from 2008 to 2014. During her tenure on campus, she has been committed to improving student success as well as increasing access to STEM programs for women and underrepresented minority students. Her dedication to teaching has been honored with the College of Engineering Award for Excellence in Service, in 2010, the Dean Newnan Excellence in Teaching Award for Faculty in the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, in 2008, and the SJSU Teacher Scholar Award for 2007-2008.

In Engineering, she helped to establish a summer transition program and served as the director of the program, EXCEED, for three years. She also served as the director of the Microscale Process Engineering Lab from 2007-2014, during which she co-designed multiple new courses to include hands-on education. She created a service-learning program through CommUniverCity that has engaged up to 500 engineering students a semester since its inception. Stacy has served as the principal investigator on multiple research projects focused on improving student learning through the use of active and service learning methods.

Stacy has shown a strong ability to collaborate across departments, disciplines and divisions. She has a deep understanding of the university from her service on the Academic Senate Executive Committee, the University Curriculum and Research Committee and the University Instruction and Student Affairs Committee.

Stacy, who is herself a first-generation college student, holds a bachelor’s in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and a master’s and a doctorate in materials science and engineering, from Stanford University. She has said her undergraduate experience transformed her through the opportunity she received to engage in high-impact practices with caring professors. She brings with her a strong background that will build on the strong foundation provided by Maureen Scharberg who has taken a position as the dean of Undergraduate Studies at CSU, East Bay.

College newsletters published throughout the year

The University Library has published the Fall 2015 edition of “Academic Gateway,” a newsletter about the University Library. Contents include an article on a grant to digitize World War II Japanese Internment items, a letter from Dean Ruth Kifer and more. It is available for download from ScholarWorks.

Current and archived newsletters from other academic units and colleges are also available online:

College of Applied Sciences and Arts

Lucas College of Business and Graduate School

Connie L. Lurie College of Education

Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering

College of Humanities and the Arts

College of Science

College of Social Sciences

SJSU Research Foundation Office of Sponsored Programs Bulletin 12.15 (2)