April 29, 2019

Open forums for associate dean and director of Graduate School set

Three internal candidates for the position of associate dean and director of the Graduate School will meet with constituents during a series of forums beginning Tuesday. 

The candidates, in alphabetical order, are: 

Open forums are next week 

During their respective forums, the candidates will discuss their vision for the Graduate School. The individual forums will each be in Morris Library’s rooms 752/754/ A Q&A will follow each of the presentations. 

The forums give university students, staff and faculty an opportunity to meet with the candidates and ask questions about their proposed approaches to the position. The open forums are in conjunction with each of the candidates’ interviews. 

The open forum schedule is: 

  • Tuesday – 9 a.m. Juliane Wallace.
  • Wednesday – 9 a.m. Stephen Shih.
  • Thursday – 9 a.m. Ian Suni. 

The associate dean and director of the Graduate School reports to the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. The candidate must have established an record of scholarship and substantial experience in graduate education and be knowledgeable of institutional needs with respect to graduate programs and work effectively with students, faculty, staff and administration. 

Other responsibilities include: 

  • Provide strong leadership in areas including graduate student recruitment, admissions, diversity and inclusion, student success, graduation, financial aid and fellowships.
  • Oversee the graduate school budget and serve as its fiscal officer.
  • Engage actively with deans, academic unit heads, directors of graduate studies and graduate students to enhance graduate enrollment and graduate student success.
  • Serve as a resource for deans, graduate faculty, department chairs and directors of graduate studies on all matters relating to graduate students and graduate programs.
  • Provide assistance to academic units interested in creating new graduate programs. 

Candidates each have long service to campus 

Shih earned his doctorate in 1992 from Pennsylvania State University. He earned his master’s degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 1987 and his Bachelor of Science degree from Tunghai University in Taichung, Taiwan in 1981. 

Shih joined the School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies faculty at SIU Carbondale as an assistant professor in 2001 and was promoted to professor in 2010. He is the coordinator in applied data analytics within ISAT and has experience as the school’s associate director and interim director. Prior to coming to SIU, Shih was an assistant professor at Auburn University from 1994 to 1998 and an assistant professor at St. Cloud State University from 1991 to 1993. He also has industrial experience as a systems analyst and data scientist and project manager with United Technologies and a systems architect with Lucent Technologies. 

Suni earned his doctorate in 1992 from Harvard University and his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan in 1983. 

Suni came to SIU Carbondale as a professor in 2013. He is in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and also the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Energy Processes. Suni has directed the Materials Technology Center since he came to campus. Prior to that, he was at Clarkson University from 1993 to 2012 where he rose the rank of professor and directed the Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. program there from 2010 to 2012. He was a visiting research professor II in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology in 2000, and a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Illinois from 1991 to 1993. 

Wallace earned her doctorate and master’s degrees from Iowa State University in 2004 and 2000, respectively. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska in 1993. 

Wallace came to SIU Carbondale in 2004 as an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and became an associate professor in 2010. She has been interim associate dean and director of the Graduate School since January 2018. From August 2016 to December 2017, Wallace was interim chair of the Department of Public Health and Recreation Professions and from January 2016 to December 2017, she served as kinesiology department chair. From 2006 to 2015, Wallace was program director of the exercise science major within the department. Prior to coming to SIU, Wallace was an assistant director in Iowa State University’s exercise clinic and an instructor in the university’s Department of Health and Human Performance. 

The links to the candidates’ full CVs are available here.