Schauer (left) and Wen
Caroline Schauer, PhD, has been appointed interim associate vice provost for faculty
advancement, effective January 1, 2023. Paul E. Jensen, PhD, Nina Henderson
Provost, announced the appointment in an email to the Drexel University
Community earlier this month.
In her new role, Schauer will work collaboratively with colleagues in the
Office of Faculty Advancement and stakeholders across campuses and units to
manage faculty lifecycle processes, support our faculty’s continued growth
and development, and advance critical policy development and
infrastructure.
An internationally known expert in natural polymers and polymer processing,
Dr. Schauer is the Margaret C. Burns Chair in Engineering, a position that
was established to support a faculty member who champions women, minorities
and members of the LGBTQ community. She is also associate dean for the
research enterprise in Drexel Engineering and a professor of materials
science and engineering with 19 years of service to the University.
As associate dean (AD) for research and faculty affairs from January 2020
through June of this year, Schauer guided the relaunch of the college’s
committee on DEI, which made significant early progress in updating our
approaches to equitable faculty training and search processes, and ensuring
the college’s policies around workload and review are more inclusive. She
transitioned to AD for the research enterprise this July, but as an
advocate for historically underrepresented groups in engineering at all
levels, she continued her long-time commitment to DEI efforts.
“Serving the College of Engineering as the AD of both research and faculty
affairs has been an amazing experience and I am truly grateful for all of
the faculty who have served on committees and working groups with me,”
Schauer said. “Their voices have made the college stronger, more inclusive,
and welcoming. I look forward to taking this energy to my next role. As the
inaugural AD for faculty affairs for the college and the first position of
its kind in the University, I gained great insight as to where we have been
and what great accomplishments we can achieve moving forward.”
As Schauer transitions to assume the interim associate vice provost role,
Jin Wen, PhD, professor and associate dean for faculty advancement, has been appointed
interim associate dean of the research enterprise to ensure a smooth
transition in the college
Since assuming the role of AD for faculty advancement
earlier this year, Wen has made significant progress supporting the engineering academic
community, including hosting a hybrid new faculty orientation, as well as
the new Faculty Research and Advancement lunch series.
“I am very excited to serve the college as the interim ADR,” said Wen. “I
will continue the efforts that Dr. Schauer has initiated to support our
faculty to perform world-class research, while promoting a respectful,
inclusive, equitable, and diverse community within Drexel Engineering. I
also look forward to working with the Drexel community to develop
programming around college and campus strategic research areas.”