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.