We’re at the point in the year where the Registrar’s office keeps asking for the names of the faculty who will teach courses originally entered into the computer as “Staff”.  With searches now completed and new faculty hired, we are finally ready to do that.  Once it is done, students taking a look at the schedule of classes for the fall will inevitably try to get in touch with us and ask for some information to explain the new names that appear by familiar classes.  That’s not a faculty member they know about!  Can we give them any insight into what this change of face and name means to their courses, to their education?

This year we hired four new SNCS faculty.  They are an interesting group from near and far.  Each one brings new skills and abilities and perspectives to enrich and shape our programs in new ways.  Those are good things!

Our first hire was Dr. Robby Watson, a Texan who got his electrical engineering degree at UT before pursuing a masters and doctorate in Computer Science from Texas Tech.  He’s been working for NASA most recently, either in Houston or via a contract through UT, designing software capable of repairing itself, something critical to interplanetary travel.  You can’t send the Geek Squad 400,000,000 miles to repair glitchy software, so its best to engineer that capability into the design from day one.  He will inherit a great tradition in programming and software engineering at McMurry.  I often tell visitors that they can find software from McMurry graduates used in flight simulators, weapons control systems, and other military applications, as well as communications software on Air Force One.  One summer one of our graduates did contract work to design software to keep airborne antennas pointed at satellites.  Thank McMurry next time you use the Internet while crossing the Atlantic.

Our second hire was Dr. Hyunshun Shin from South Korea.  She’s an organic chemist whose work includes development of pharmaceuticals.  Better living through chemistry!  She received BS and Masters degrees in Korea before receiving her Masters and PhD from Drexel University.  She has a heart for students and is committed to helping other Korean students receive the same opportunities for an American college education at McMurry.  We expect her to add a new dimension to Chemistry and help support an already-strong Chemistry program.  No doubt, it will be done with a smile and commitment to excellence.

Not long ago we filled a new position in Biology with the hiring of Dr. Heidi DiFrancesca.  Dr. D, as she has already been tagged by students who met with her during her interview, is a cell biologist working in cancer research at Duquesne University.  She plans innovative ways of integrating cancer research participation for her students into her courses.  Her hiring is in support of the new Biomedical Science program being started at McMurry, and taught through a pedagogy unlike that anywhere else – teaching the content of the courses through involvement of students in research experiences.  The courses will tie together so that a student might work for a year in their regular biology courses to investigate a particular problem, and in doing so develop depth in the subject and collect and analyze data allowing publication.  We don’t know of another program as innovative, integrated, and thorough as this one anywhere.

Our last hire was Dr. Tim Renfro, an experimental physicist and native Texan.  His doctoral work was done at UT Dallas, following a Masters at Stephen F. Austin State University and bachelors degree from Tarleton State.  Dr. Renfro gave one of the more entertaining research talks during his interview, filled with stories of possible research adventures students can look forward to.  Everyone who met him during his visit felt he was a great fit for the university (a HUGE element in the selection process at McMurry) and that the opportunities he provided for senior capstone projects were immense.  The economic potential of his creations left many faculty thinking of collaborative projects and ways they could involve him in their work.  When he makes his first million, I hope he’ll remember the little guys who helped make it all possible.

So, for the sake of those students who might look at the schedule of classes for the fall and ask “Who dat?”, I hope this review of the people joining us in the fall will be informative.  Each time we make a hire with the likes of these, we make a statement about our expectations for students and our commitment to supporting them with the very best.  I tell people often that the most important thing I can do during my time as dean is to help shape the faculty for our future by hiring bright, student-centered, well-trained faculty who think creatively about how they teach and build programs that generate graduates with knowledge and skills relevant to America’s future.  Okay, I don’t really say all that, but the message is the same.

Now, if we can just do as well with the lab manager position we’re advertising for right now…