Dean’s Message
Welcome to the fall 2016 edition of the e-newsletter for alumni and friends! The College of Applied Sciences and Arts started its 2016-2017 academic year with strong enrollment and tremendous growth. The college has now an all-time record enrollment: 2,672 students, a 4.7 percent increase over last year. There are five programs with a significant growth higher than 10%: Automotive Technology, 13.7 percent; Dental Hygiene, 11 percent; Public Safety Management (formerly Fire Service Management) 17.7 percent; Health Care Management, 13.1 percent, and Interior Design, 17.8 percent. The new Master of Health Informatics and Master of Health Administration added more than 40 new students to the college’s student population. The new programs were developed with a curriculum specifically designed to meet accreditation standards and industry needs.
Beyond enrollment growth, we are trying our best to improve our learning environment to help students succeed. Part of our effort includes the ADS-B fundraising initiative and aircraft fleet renewal project. Another project is the annual ASA Multidisciplinary Research Symposium providing a learning and research forum for faculty and students. This year’s multidisciplinary research symposium took place Oct. 14-15 in the Transportation Education Center. Over 20 parallel research presentations and 18 student posters about “Emerging Technologies” were presented with authors from SIU Carbondale and other regional institutions. Top student poster awards were given to three of the college’s Architecture students at the end of the symposium.
As many of you know, higher education in Illinois sustained a serious budget cut and we are now about halfway into a new fiscal year (FY2017) without a state budget. The college experienced a 10 percent permanent cut starting this fiscal year, which was based on state appropriated money as well as our distance education resources.
One of the best things about CASA is our community service. As a public institution, we have an obligation to serve our community and help students succeed through service learning in addition to classroom learning. Among many community service projects, I would like to mention is the Dental Hygiene program’s outstanding effort for their annual “Give Adults a Smile Day,” “Give Kids a Smile Day,” as well as “Give Veterans a Smile Day” events.
Since August, we have been working on a new strategic plan for the college to improve its diversity and inclusion. A new college-wide committee on diversity and inclusion is formed and will meet regularly and provide guidance and suggestions.
This past summer, we developed a “State of the College Report” for the 2015-2016 academic year. It is available online at https://asa.siu.edu/_common/documents/state-of-the-college-report/state-of-the-college-report-2016.pdf.
We welcome your feedback. If you have suggestions about what you would like to see or what services you would like provided from my office, please send a note to awang@siu.edu. In the meantime, I encourage you to share news and information to include in future issues of the newsletter. Please also keep your contact information up to date so you can continue to receive our updates, invitations to events, and other publications. I wish everyone a very Happy Holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous New Year!
Andy Wang, Ph.D.
Professor and Dean