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Christopher T. Cory, Director of Public Information, Pace University
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (POTENTIAL EXPERT SOURCE)
STATISTICIAN IN HOT-BUTTON FIELDS
NAMED DEAN AT PACE UNIVERSITY’S
DYSON COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Nira Herrmann currently heads Drexel University math department
New York, NY, April 13, 2004 – Pace University has appointed Nira Herrmann, Ph.D., the head of the mathematics department at Drexel University in Philadelphia and a developer of teaching and research programs in emerging areas like bioinformatics, as dean of its Dyson College of Arts and Sciences.
“Nira Herrmann exemplifies Pace’s commitment to keeping learning and teaching, informed by research, at the heart of our enterprise,” said Pace President David A. Caputo, who made the announcement. The appointment is effective July 1.
At Drexel, Herrmann sparked research and teaching in new fields that frequently raise issues of ethics and policy. She helped coordinate a “Protein Science Initiative” in bioinformatics (computer analysis of biological data), nanoscience (molecular-sized technology), and proteomics (molecular protein analysis). She also nurtured faculty teams in software engineering, applied artificial intelligence, human-computer interactions, and combinatorics (the science of counting)/statistics/operations research.
$1 million in grants and gifts. As a department head, in six years she helped to nearly triple undergraduate enrollment in mathematics and computer science, from 260 majors to 950. She recruited top high school graduates, created a student resource center and, in these traditionally-male fields, increased the proportion of female faculty members. She led curriculum redesigns that improved math, statistics and computer programming courses for liberal arts students in areas like design, business and public policy, as well as for students in science, computing and engineering.
Herrmann was instrumental in winning nearly $1,000,000 worth of grants and gifts from foundations, industrial partners and private donors. To advocate for the department and make sure its programs are state-of-the-art, she formed an external advisory board of leaders in education and business.
Momentum at Pace. “Nira Herrmann combines keen involvement in her own fields with multidisciplinary experience in linking them to other areas,” according to Joseph Morreale, Ph.D., Pace’s Provost. He pointed out that “she brings Pace her professional experience in the sciences and mathematics and a personal interest in the arts, both of which will relate well to the mission of the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences. The arts and sciences form half of the total learning experience for every Pace student, and Dr. Herrmann's leadership will add to the excitement of these fields for all Pace students.”
“As Pace approaches its centennial, it clearly is out to become a national center of excellence and has positive momentum,” Herrmann said. “I am excited about the chance to participate, and look forward to working with Pace’s thoughtful faculty. The arts and sciences address most of the problems we see in the world, making them essential to everyone, regardless of major. They provide the core knowledge that leads to an understanding of the wider world and to a full life.”
Berkeley, Stanford, Rutgers. Herrmann began her academic career as a math major at the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with Distinction in General Scholarship. She earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in statistics at Stanford University and then joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine, conducting epidemiological research, teaching biostatistics, and holding a secondary appointment in the university’s Wharton School of business. After finishing a second master’s in computer science at Rutgers University she became a professor at Drexel, rapidly winning tenure and later becoming head of her expanding department.
Herrmann took dance, piano and flute lessons through college and enjoys concerts, museums, and reading a broad range of fiction and nonfiction. Her husband is a faculty member at Rutgers. They have two daughters, one a law student at Northwestern University, the other an undergraduate at New York University.
Continued strong leadership. Herrmann succeeds Michael H. Roberts, Ph.D., a professor of biology who is serving as acting dean for the current academic year. The former dean, Gail Dinter-Gottlieb, Ph.D., left to become president of Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Roberts will return to the tenured faculty.
“Dyson College continued its forward momentum during Mike Roberts’s stewardship,” Caputo said. “We are grateful for his dedication and service.”
Dyson College has grown in the last few years, and with 3,000 full and part-time students, within Pace is second in size only to the Lubin School of Business. It delivers the core curriculum required of all Pace undergraduates while offering 41 undergraduate majors. Its graduate programs include master’s degrees in forensic science, environmental science, publishing, public administration and psychology, and a Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) in School-Clinical Child Psychology.
Pace is a comprehensive, independent university committed to opportunity, teaching and learning, civic involvement and measurable outcomes. It has seven campuses, in downtown and midtown New York City, Pleasantville, Briarcliff, and White Plains (a graduate center and law school), and a Hudson Valley Center at Stewart International Airport near Newburgh, N.Y. More than 14,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lubin School of Business, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, School of Education, Lienhard School of Nursing and Pace Law School. Www.pace.edu.
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