The Dean for the School of Engineering (SoE) is responsible for the infrastructure planning and management, fiscal and personnel operations, academic operations and support, and student support.
Responsibilities
Infrastructure Planning and Management
The Assistant Dean of Engineering provides support as needed for the Resources Committee and the Curriculum Committee, and oversees all infrastructure monitoring, planning, and assessment in support of the Dean and the overall management of SoE facilities and infrastructure. Infrastructure planning and management also includes oversight of all school computing resources — both educational and research — as well as teaching and research laboratory oversight. Specialized facilities maintenance, such as the machine shop, are also the responsibility of this unit.
Fiscal and Personnel Operations
The Director of Fiscal Operations serves as the chief financial and operations officer in the SoE and assumes direct responsibility for operational and fiscal management of the SoE Office of the Dean. The fiscal operations encompasses all aspects of financial management for the school's funding sources including federal, state and private research contracts and grants, gifts, state operational funding, revenue and recharges along with supporting all office operations, and support to the SoE governance committees. The Director of Fiscal Operations assists the Dean in the management and administrative leadership in all areas under Dean's jurisdiction, including CITRIS, the UC Merced Energy Institute, and future centers and programs.
Academic Operations and Support
Academic operations and support is responsible for providing administrative support to the school's Resources Committee and Curriculum Committee, which involves regular participation in meetings of those committees, and the preparation of reports and data profiles upon which to base management decisions. The Academic Specialist interacts regularly with the chair of the Academic Personnel Committee to ensure the effective processing of all academic personnel cases and activities. The Academic Support Analyst will assist the Academic Specialist in making sure that all faculty recruiting and merit and promotion operations are handled efficiently and effectively. These individuals are also responsible for the information management systems developed for these operations.
Student Support
Student Support focus' on the success of our engineering students while they navigate the complex route from matriculation to graduation. The Student Support team provides support for education, mediation, advocacy, impartial observation, support and referrals which are intended to foster a sense of support and community among the engineering students, and to increase industry awareness. The organization bridges engineering students with faculty and support services to ensure student success, being responsible for helping students in dealing with curriculum and course information, accessing student services, financial aid, program tutorials, representation and participation; resolving particular concerns while making sure that existing policies are fair and equitable.
Development and Outreach
Development and outreach activities within the school are currently handled by the Dean with limited support from Development and Alumni Relations. Currently, the school does not presently have a dedicated development or external relations unit. Even with limited resources, the school through the Office of the Dean has been successful with the following development activities:
- $1.25-million gift by the Foster family to establish an endowment to support the Engineering Service Learning Program;
- $1.1-million gift by the Pacific Gas and Electric Corporation to support the School of Engineering student recruitment and retention initiatives;
- $600,000 grant to the academic schools at UC Merced for innovation in undergraduate education the engineering portion of this grant helped support the Collaboratory (see Section 5.2.2) and our open source initiatives;
- $200,000 grant from HP Labs to support open source computing activities of the school
