Rom Kasuba

Kasuba, NIU's first dean of Engineering, to retire

by Joe King

When Romualdas Kasuba was offered the job as dean of the new engineering school at Northern Illinois University, half of his friends told him he would be crazy to take the job. The rest told him he would be crazy not to.

Seventeen years later, as he prepares to step down as dean of the College of Engineering and Engineering Technology, Kasuba is glad he listened to the latter group.

"I like challenges and hard work," he says, adding that he got plenty of both when he came to NIU.

Arriving in June 1986, he inherited a program established on paper in the fall of 1985. It had some aspects of an engineering school, but was far from a full-fledged college. Working tirelessly, he assembled a faculty and staff, and, within four years, the school attained full accreditation.

"We did it in the shortest amount of time possible, many say record time. We all worked very hard to make that happen," he says, adding that to this day it remains one of the proudest accomplishments of his life in academe.

The accreditation was recognized by the State of Illinois as a major accomplishment for the college and was a catalyst to obtain funding for construction of a building to house the engineering program. That building, completed in 1995, remains a source of pride for Kasuba.

"The building and its facilities are ranked among the best in the world. It is the type of facility we needed to meet the needs of our outstanding faculty," Kasuba says.

It is that faculty, he says, that has helped the college establish a reputation both nationally and internationally. He is quick to note that 65 percent of the faculty (perhaps the highest percentage at any engineering school in the nation) hold professional licensures. Many of them are also licensed professional engineers.

This is an important consideration to Kasuba, whose vision for the college always has been to create programs focused on current professional practice rather than pure theory, striving to keep students abreast of changing technology.

"This school was created to meet the needs of our highly technical region, so our goal from the outset was to establish programs with professional practice orientations that would be nationally recognized," Kasuba says. "I think we have succeeded."

"Dr. Kasuba will certainly be missed," Provost Ivan Legg says. "He led the college from its programmatic stages into a full-fledged college that has become very well respected both regionally and nationally and built lasting relationships with local industries and the business community."

Jule Scarborough, a professor in the Department of Technology, and one of the few faculty members who has been part of the college throughout Kasuba's tenure, praised his work in developing the college.

"He has been a thoughtful dean in that he really has considered people's ideas, opinions, feelings and interests in making decisions," Scarborough says. "His tenure here has been successful in that we have an active college with all the students we can handle."

Indeed, the college, which he fostered from practically nothing, has grown to boast one of the largest undergraduate engineering enrollments in the state. Currently the college has more than 1,600 students, graduate and undergraduate, in four departments. It was something few people might have thought possible, but Kasuba has worked against long odds for most of his life.

Born in Lithuania, Kasuba's early life was turbulent.

By the time he was 13, his family had tasted both the Soviet and Nazi occupations, finally ending up in Nazi Germany where he spent time working as a forced laborer on farms. His family eventually immigrated to America, and he found his way to Chicago, where he worked in a factory to earn money for college. He roomed at the home of a co-worker and fellow Lithuanian, Valdas Adamkus, who eventually returned to Lithuania as president of the country after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Kasuba eventually earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, spent two years in the Army and then began a career in the aerospace industry, including work on the lunar excursion model of the Apollo project that eventually landed man on the moon.

In 1968, his employer lent his services to Cleveland State University.

He decided after two years that he enjoyed the academic life and launched a new career. The move was successful, as he earned accolades such as a Distinguished Faculty Award and induction into the honor societies of Sigma Xi and Tau Beta Pi. At the time of his departure from Cleveland State, he had risen to the rank of full professor and was director of the engineering doctorate program, as well as chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

While building the program at NIU, Kasuba also has been active in international education circles.

In 1994, he was an invited distinguished scientist at Tokyo Institute of Technology, and he received the diamond award from the UNESCO International Engineering Education Center for best paper in 1998. In 2001, he was invited back to Tokyo to lecture on the restructuring of universities and assessments. He also has lectured on educational issues in China, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Australia, Poland, Venezuela and France.

His career has attracted attention in his homeland.

In 1998, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), one of the largest (enrollment of 13,000) and most respected engineering schools in Europe. In 1999, the National Academy of Sciences of Lithuania elected him as a foreign member of the Academy. Kasuba has established strong ties between the engineering school at NIU and KTU.

Between June 30, when he steps aside as dean, and the end of the year, when he officially retires, he will spend much of his time formalizing and strengthening that relationship.

Kasuba's decision to step down was prompted by the approaching re-accreditation of the college. "I was planning on retiring in June of 2004, but the entire re-accreditation process will stretch well into 2005, and I felt that it was in the best interest of the college to have continuity throughout that process," he says.

Promod Vohra, who has served as associate dean of the college for the past six years and worked alongside Kasuba during the last re-accreditation, will take over as acting dean.

"We have worked together closely, and we will miss him," says Vohra, who was mentored by Kasuba. "He is a man of integrity, and he has served the college with distinction and honor."

Kasuba, who says he has looked forward to coming to work each day, says he will miss the daily interaction with faculty, students and members of industry. However, he plans to stay close to the college and to continue his research on educational issues.

He and his wife, Nijole, who live in St. Charles, also plan to travel.

5-6-03