Welcoming Interim Deans to SAS, Engineering, and Douglass

June 16, 2022

Dear Rutgers–New Brunswick Community,

I am very happy to announce the appointments of Dr. Susan Lawrence and Dr. James Masschaele as Interim co-Executive Deans of the School of Arts and Sciences; Dr. Alberto Cuitiño as Interim Dean of the School of Engineering; and Dr. Meghan Rehbein as Interim Administrative Dean of Douglass Residential College. These outstanding leaders will assume their new, interim roles on July 1, 2022, and will serve while we conduct nationwide searches for permanent deans.

School of Arts and Sciences

As co-Interim Executive Deans of the School of Arts and Sciences, Susan Lawrence and James Masschaele will replace Executive Dean Peter March, who recently announced his decision to step down from his administrative role to focus on his scholarship and research as Distinguished Professor of Mathematics. Together Dr. Lawrence and Dr. Masschaele bring complementary areas of experience and expertise that will help Rutgers–New Brunswick fulfill the four pillars of the Academic Master Plan: Scholarly Leadership, Student Success, Innovative Research, and Community Engagement. A nationwide search for a permanent executive dean of the School of Arts and Sciences will begin this fall.

Dr. Lawrence serves the School of Arts and Sciences as Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education, a role in which she oversees recruitment, instruction, advising, and academic support for more than 21,000 undergraduate students. She works closely with undergraduate directors in the departments and interdisciplinary programs on instructional, curricular, and advising issues for all students, including majors and minors, and with the assistant deans in the Office of Advising and Academic Services to provide general advising and special programs for first-year students, transfer students, and special populations. She was a key member of the team that in 2007 implemented the Transformation of Undergraduate Education and founded a consolidated School of Arts and Sciences. She also played a leadership role in formulating and implementing the learning-goal-based Core Curriculum, the Signature Course Initiative, the Career Exploration in Arts and Sciences Initiative, and the undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research teams program. A professor of political science, Dr. Lawrence is the author of the award-winning book The Poor in Court: The Legal Services Program and Supreme Court Decision-Making, along with numerous other articles and edited works. She received the 2001 FAS Award for Distinguished Contribution to Undergraduate Education and the 2002 University Award for Programmatic Excellence in Undergraduate Education. She has written and lectured on mission alignment and strategic planning in higher education; on general education curriculum development, implementation, and assessment; and on connecting liberal arts and 21st-century careers.

Dr. Masschaele serves the School of Arts and Sciences as Executive Vice Dean, a role in which he has had a school-wide mandate to assist the Executive Dean in making high-level decisions about the direction of the school, particularly with respect to faculty affairs. He has been instrumental in building the university’s partnership with the Institute for International Education and its Scholar-Rescue Fund. His work with the Mellon Foundation helped raise more than $5 million in grants to support graduate programs in the humanities; through this initiative, Mellon also agreed to fund the creation of the Andrew W. Mellon Chair in Philosophy. He served on Rutgers University’s steering committee for the most recent Middle States accreditation review, chairing the subcommittee that wrote the report on the design and delivery of the undergraduate student experience at Rutgers. He joined the Department of History in 1991 as assistant professor with research expertise in medieval European history, has served as Undergraduate Vice Chair and Department Chair, and has directed the Program in Medieval Studies. He is a recipient of the Rutgers University Board of Trustees Award for Scholarly Excellence and has served on the editorial board of Speculum, the flagship journal of the Medieval Academy of America.  He serves on the International Advisory Committee for Rutgers Global, the Advisory Committee for the New Brunswick Libraries, and several other campus-wide committees.

School of Engineering

As Interim Dean of the School of Engineering, Alberto Cuitiño will replace Dean Thomas Farris, who recently announced his decision to step down from his administrative role and duties. A nationwide search for a permanent dean of the School of Engineering will begin in the fall of 2023.

Dr. Cuitiño currently serves in the School of Engineering, which he joined in 1993, as professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Under his leadership, the department added 18 new full-time faculty members; established a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering along with a Master of Engineering degree and international 3+2 and 4+1 programs; and developed graduate certificates in advanced manufacturing, robotics and automation, space, additive manufacturing, and business innovation. He served as the Rutgers site leader in establishing the National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems (ERC-SOPS). He also served as the Principal Investigator for the NSF Industry-Academia Research Partnership in Developing and Implementing Non-Destructive Characterization and Assessment of Pharmaceutical Oral Doses in Continuous Manufacturing in conjunction with Johnson & Johnson. His expertise includes pharmaceutical manufacturing, solid mechanics, multiscale modeling, dislocation mechanics, and granular materials. He also has extensive experience in material modeling and characterizing complex systems, having participated in several multi-university research programs supported by government and industry. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Douglass Residential College

As Interim Administrative Dean of Douglass Residential College, Meghan Rehbein will replace Dean Jacquelyn Litt, who earlier this year announced her decision to step down from her leadership role to focus on her teaching and research in the departments of Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the School of Arts and Sciences. A newly created Douglass Residential College Faculty Advisory Council will support and assist Dr. Rehbein in academic programming and related decisions. A nationwide search for a permanent dean of Douglass Residential College will begin this fall.

Dr. Rehbein currently serves Douglass Residential College as Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, a role she has held since March 2020. She previously served as Assistant Dean for Advancement and, before joining Rutgers in 2018, served Georgian Court University as Vice President for Institutional Advancement.  In her role as Associate Dean, she has concentrated on communications, sustainability, and planning for the future of Douglass Residential College and building opportunities for collaboration. Prior to 2020, she was involved in closing the highly successful Power of 100 Years Campaign on behalf of Douglass, and has excellent relationships with staff, student leaders, donors, and alumnae. Dr. Rehbein has more than two decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, higher education, and health and human services organizations. Her research focuses on women’s leadership development in the nonprofit sector, specifically on gender and other disparities between the nonprofit workforce and leadership.

Please join me in thanking Dr. Lawrence, Dr. Masschaele, Dr. Cuitiño, and Dr. Rehbein for taking on their important new roles, and in again thanking Executive Dean March, Dean Farris, and Dean Litt for their exemplary service to Rutgers University and its mission of excellence in education, research, and service.

Sincerely,

Francine Conway, Ph.D.
Chancellor-Provost, Rutgers University­–New Brunswick