Six months after launching a search to replace Harriet Nembhard as dean of its College of Engineering, the University of Iowa on Thursday announced Ann F. McKenna — a vice dean at Arizona State University — will take the reins of the 2,000-plus-student college Aug. 16.
McKenna has been at Arizona State since 2010, serving in a range of roles from director of the Polytechnic School, interim vice dean for research and innovation, and chair of the Department of Engineering. She currently serves as vice dean of strategic advancement at Arizona State’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and as an engineering professor in the Polytechnic School.
As UI College of Engineering dean, McKenna will make $375,000 annually. She’ll succeed Nembhard, who in December was named president of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif. Nembhard, earning $360,600 at UI, will start her new role July 1 — three years after joining the Iowa City campus in June 2020.
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Between when she leaves June 30 and McKenna starts, Biomedical Engineering Department Executive Officer Joseph Reinhardt will serve as acting dean.
In Thursday’s hire announcement, McKenna said she’s honored to serve.
“It is clear the University of Iowa is a special place that embodies a collaborative spirit and values working across disciplines to develop innovative and impactful solutions to complex technological challenges,” McKenna said in a statement. “I am thrilled to join such a talented and dedicated community to help advance and grow the College of Engineering.”
McKenna was one of three engineering dean finalists invited to visit UI in May.
The other two were:
McKenna earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia and a doctorate in engineering education from the University of California Berkeley.
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Before Arizona State, McKenna served as a program director at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va. and as director of education improvement in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where she did postdoctoral research.
McKenna’s research has focused on “entrepreneurial thinking in the context of engineering faculty mentorship and curricular innovations, design teaching and learning, and inclusivity in higher education engineering structures, culture, and policies,” according to UI.
The same month Nembhard announced plans to leave UI for Harvey Mudd — a private liberal arts college boasting the No. 2-ranked undergraduate engineering program in the country — the UI College of Engineering produced an internal review highlighting its “strengths, opportunities, and challenges.”
Strengths of the college — which in the fall reported 2,037 students, 112 faculty, and 153 staff — included high-caliber faculty, staff, and students; an attractive and functional new building; a dean angling to tackle “major existing structural issues,” and faculty and staff commitment “to be part of the solution to the college’s issues.”
Those issues, according to the report, include:
“Paradoxically, being small is part of the reason that the college is financially in the red,” according to the report, which didn’t detail the college’s finances but did point to a relatively new budget model as having impacted its resources.
The “value-based” budget model aims to maximize tuition revenue, incentivize revenue generation, and ensure fiscal accountability at the college level — among other things — by, for example, letting colleges keep 70 percent of any new revenue they bring in, like tuition and fees.
“It was clear from the interviews that faculty and staff understand that this new budget model was going to take place and that changes to the indirect cost recovery were going to go into effect,” according to the internal engineering college review. “However, it was also clear that faculty and staff did not have a good understanding about how these resources, which are now held at the college level, would be deployed.”
Among its needs for additional resources is faculty compensation, the report found.
“Faculty salaries were in the bottom quartile of the two most respected rankings,” the study reported. “The college would like to bring faculty salaries to the top quartile, but that would take an additional $1 to $2 million per year.”
Pointing to “staff attrition, realignment of duties, and overwork” negatively affecting staff morale, the report urged the college to re-imagine startup packages for faculty not associated with the college’s more than 20 research centers or institutes.
“This deserves paramount attention, given that the dean reported that the college wants to increase faculty by 20 individuals over next five years,” according to the report. “Further, the college’s interest in increasing the diversity of faculty will require creative approaches and strategic planning.”
Regarding the college’s enrollment — which has dropped at the undergraduate level from 2,588 five years ago in 2017 to 1,764 in fall 2022 — engineering administrators have “complex issues to address.”
“The UI’s new budget model has an outsized impact on the college,” according to the report. “Because the undergraduate population of the college is small and students get, on average, a higher level of scholarship/financial aid than in other colleges, the college does not receive the total amount of money per pupil to cover the cost of educating them.”
Additionally, because the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences teaches many first-year courses, the new UI budget model hinders that tuition revenue from benefiting the engineering college.
“The college also has to support a large proportion of scholarships, due to the high school GPAs of incoming students, which puts it at a disadvantage with other colleges.”
Hinting at duties a new dean will have to pick up, the report notes Nembhard was “trying to drive a conversation with UI administration about making strategic investments to help the College of Engineering increase its net tuition revenue.”
“The college is looking for ways to leverage strengths to complement tuition revenue,” like offering certificates, online courses, and other offerings attractive to students in other colleges.
“College leadership needs to make tough decisions because of the college’s current financial challenges,” according to the report, which raised a broader issue.
“An open question is how much the UI values its College of Engineering,” the report noted, comparing it with other research universities.
“The college’s market is one in which its competitors have higher rankings and more advanced facilities. They also have better marketing, including cool videos on their websites and a personalized video that is sent to admitted students, as well as consistent, enthusiastic, and effective engagement by faculty, students, and alumni in recruiting students.”
www.thegazette.com
McKenna has been at Arizona State since 2010, serving in a range of roles from director of the Polytechnic School, interim vice dean for research and innovation, and chair of the Department of Engineering. She currently serves as vice dean of strategic advancement at Arizona State’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and as an engineering professor in the Polytechnic School.
As UI College of Engineering dean, McKenna will make $375,000 annually. She’ll succeed Nembhard, who in December was named president of Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif. Nembhard, earning $360,600 at UI, will start her new role July 1 — three years after joining the Iowa City campus in June 2020.
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Between when she leaves June 30 and McKenna starts, Biomedical Engineering Department Executive Officer Joseph Reinhardt will serve as acting dean.
In Thursday’s hire announcement, McKenna said she’s honored to serve.
“It is clear the University of Iowa is a special place that embodies a collaborative spirit and values working across disciplines to develop innovative and impactful solutions to complex technological challenges,” McKenna said in a statement. “I am thrilled to join such a talented and dedicated community to help advance and grow the College of Engineering.”
McKenna was one of three engineering dean finalists invited to visit UI in May.
The other two were:
- Robert L. Bertini, professor and head of the School of Civil Construction Engineering at Oregon State University, who previously led two national university transportation research centers;
- And Tilman Wolf, electrical and computer engineering professor, senior vice provost for academic affairs, and associate chancellor for space and capital planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
McKenna earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Drexel University in Philadelphia and a doctorate in engineering education from the University of California Berkeley.
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Before Arizona State, McKenna served as a program director at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Va. and as director of education improvement in the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., where she did postdoctoral research.
McKenna’s research has focused on “entrepreneurial thinking in the context of engineering faculty mentorship and curricular innovations, design teaching and learning, and inclusivity in higher education engineering structures, culture, and policies,” according to UI.
Engineering college has faced financial challenges
The same month Nembhard announced plans to leave UI for Harvey Mudd — a private liberal arts college boasting the No. 2-ranked undergraduate engineering program in the country — the UI College of Engineering produced an internal review highlighting its “strengths, opportunities, and challenges.”
Strengths of the college — which in the fall reported 2,037 students, 112 faculty, and 153 staff — included high-caliber faculty, staff, and students; an attractive and functional new building; a dean angling to tackle “major existing structural issues,” and faculty and staff commitment “to be part of the solution to the college’s issues.”
Those issues, according to the report, include:
- Lack of “racial, ethnic, and gender diversity of the student body, faculty, and staff”;
- Limited laboratory and educational space for undergraduates;
- Unclear communication of the college’s value proposition — being small but within a large research university;
- And limited financial resources, hindering the college’s ability to “scale up and leverage what it has.”
“Paradoxically, being small is part of the reason that the college is financially in the red,” according to the report, which didn’t detail the college’s finances but did point to a relatively new budget model as having impacted its resources.
The “value-based” budget model aims to maximize tuition revenue, incentivize revenue generation, and ensure fiscal accountability at the college level — among other things — by, for example, letting colleges keep 70 percent of any new revenue they bring in, like tuition and fees.
“It was clear from the interviews that faculty and staff understand that this new budget model was going to take place and that changes to the indirect cost recovery were going to go into effect,” according to the internal engineering college review. “However, it was also clear that faculty and staff did not have a good understanding about how these resources, which are now held at the college level, would be deployed.”
Among its needs for additional resources is faculty compensation, the report found.
“Faculty salaries were in the bottom quartile of the two most respected rankings,” the study reported. “The college would like to bring faculty salaries to the top quartile, but that would take an additional $1 to $2 million per year.”
Pointing to “staff attrition, realignment of duties, and overwork” negatively affecting staff morale, the report urged the college to re-imagine startup packages for faculty not associated with the college’s more than 20 research centers or institutes.
“This deserves paramount attention, given that the dean reported that the college wants to increase faculty by 20 individuals over next five years,” according to the report. “Further, the college’s interest in increasing the diversity of faculty will require creative approaches and strategic planning.”
College’s competitors have ‘better marketing,’ ‘cool videos’
Regarding the college’s enrollment — which has dropped at the undergraduate level from 2,588 five years ago in 2017 to 1,764 in fall 2022 — engineering administrators have “complex issues to address.”
“The UI’s new budget model has an outsized impact on the college,” according to the report. “Because the undergraduate population of the college is small and students get, on average, a higher level of scholarship/financial aid than in other colleges, the college does not receive the total amount of money per pupil to cover the cost of educating them.”
Additionally, because the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences teaches many first-year courses, the new UI budget model hinders that tuition revenue from benefiting the engineering college.
“The college also has to support a large proportion of scholarships, due to the high school GPAs of incoming students, which puts it at a disadvantage with other colleges.”
Hinting at duties a new dean will have to pick up, the report notes Nembhard was “trying to drive a conversation with UI administration about making strategic investments to help the College of Engineering increase its net tuition revenue.”
“The college is looking for ways to leverage strengths to complement tuition revenue,” like offering certificates, online courses, and other offerings attractive to students in other colleges.
“College leadership needs to make tough decisions because of the college’s current financial challenges,” according to the report, which raised a broader issue.
“An open question is how much the UI values its College of Engineering,” the report noted, comparing it with other research universities.
“The college’s market is one in which its competitors have higher rankings and more advanced facilities. They also have better marketing, including cool videos on their websites and a personalized video that is sent to admitted students, as well as consistent, enthusiastic, and effective engagement by faculty, students, and alumni in recruiting students.”
University of Iowa picks new engineering dean for August start
Six months after launching a search to replace Harriet Nembhard as dean of its College of Engineering, the University of Iowa on Thursday announced Ann F. McKenna — a vice dean at Arizona State University — will take the reins of the 2,000-plus-student college Aug. 16.
www.thegazette.com
