CEET names new associate dean, chair

by Joe King

Two longtime members of the faculty in the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology have moved into leadership positions in the college.

Mansour Tahernezhadi has been named the associate dean of the college, while Omar Ghrayeb will become chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

“I am very pleased with both of these selections, and I look forward to working with both of these individuals to move the college forward,” Dean Promod Vohra said.

“Dr. Tahernezhadi has done an excellent job as acting associate dean for the last three years, and I look forward to continuing to work with him on issues of enrollment management and building upon our partnerships with high schools and community colleges,” Vohra added. “Similarly, I am excited to work with Dr. Ghrayeb to realize his exciting vision for the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering. They are both excellent choices. The search committees are to be commended for their work.”

Tahernezhadi, who was an associate professor of electrical engineering before stepping in as acting associate dean in 2003, is excited at the opportunity to build upon his work of the past three years.

“I've enjoyed the job. It offers a lot of variety,” Tahernezhadi said.

One of his primary goals now, he said, is to revitalize the curriculum of the college.

“Engineering and technology, by their nature, are fast-moving disciplines. Programs have to be agile to ensure that curricular offerings are on par with industry demands,” he said, citing as an example the fast-growing need to educate students in all things related to nanotechnology.

Keeping programs on the cutting edge will help Tahernezhadi accomplish two more of his goals: moving the college up the ranks of engineering programs in the nation, and making the college a first choice for top students. As part of those efforts, he also hopes to increase interest among high school students in engineering careers.

“Less than 5 percent of high school students consider engineering as a career, and its not due to lack of preparedness as much as it is a lack of awareness,” said Tahernezhadi, who plans to build upon a recently established “high school counselor day” to increase the visibility of CEET and the careers its graduates can pursue.

Other items on his “To Do” list include increasing external funding for the college and expanding opportunities for alumni to reconnect with CEET, which in turn should increase opportunities for students to land internships, research projects and jobs.

Ghrayeb, who joined the college six years ago after teaching at Southwest Oklahoma State, has similarly ambitious goals for the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, not the least of which is educating potential students about careers in industrial or systems engineering.

“Not many people know what industrial and systems engineering is all about,” Ghrayeb said. “They think it involves only manufacturing, which is one facet of it, but our students can also help complicated ‘systems,' like hospitals, make more efficient use of their manpower, machinery and resources. We have to better inform potential students about the great careers in this field.”

Beyond that, Ghrayeb also hopes to expand and improve the department's relationships with companies across the region.

“The globalization of the economy is prompting local industries to look for new ways of cutting costs and increasing efficiency – which is precisely the role of industrial and systems engineers. We have great expertise to offer,” he said.

Concurrently, Ghrayeb plans to work with faculty in the department to improve the quality of research, update the curriculum, increase external funding and attract higher-caliber students to the program.

“I have three pages of action points that need to be implemented,” said Ghrayeb, who added that he believes the quality of the department's faculty and students will allow him to reach those goals.

5-30-06