Change in Leadership at Asian University for Women (AUW)

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, July 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Mary J. Sansalone appointed Vice Chancellor of AUW

Announcement from Chairman of the Board, Jack Meyer. "On behalf of the Asian University for Women Support Foundation Board of Directors, it is with tremendous enthusiasm and optimism that I announce the appointment of Mary J. Sansalone as Vice Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer for the Asian University for Women.  Mary has an extraordinary track record as an educator and brings vision, compassion and exemplary leadership to AUW.  Mary was appointed Provost and Chief Academic Officer on July 1, 2010, and in just one year, she has already demonstrated the capacity and conviction needed to make AUW an exemplary academic institution that inspires lives and educates leaders."

AUW is a residential liberal arts college located in Chittagong, Bangladesh that prepares students for their roles as global citizens by offering an intellectually challenging liberal arts undergraduate curriculum leading to Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees.  Students hail from across South and Southeast Asia, and the majority of students begin their education at AUW in the Access Academy, an 11-month academic program that focuses on strengthening students' skills in English and mathematics, broadening students' worldview through a course in world history and geography, encouraging creativity through the arts, and developing self-confidence and physical fitness through classes in karate.  A hallmark of AUW's institutional identity is its far-reaching Charter, approved and ratified through an Act of the Parliament in 2006 that provides AUW with institutional autonomy, guarantees full academic freedom and wholly enshrines the principle of non-discrimination. AUW will graduate its first class in 2013.

Mary Sansalone studied literature and engineering as an undergraduate and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in Civil Engineering.  She obtained a Masters and a Ph.D. in engineering from Cornell University and a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  Appointed to the faculty of engineering at Cornell University in 1987, she was the second woman to earn tenure and then be promoted to full professor in the College of Engineering.  At Cornell, Mary served as Associate Director of the School of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Vice Provost of Academic Programs at Cornell University. Subsequently, she served as Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis.

Mary is known for her dedication to her students. She is widely respected for her capacity to envision, develop and execute excellent academic programs, and to set standards that earn the respect and admiration of all.  In 1992, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation named Mary the United States Professor of the Year "for extraordinary contributions to the lives and careers of undergraduate students and to the intellectual welfare of our society."  In 1993, Cornell University named her a Weiss Presidential Fellow "for effective, inspiring, and distinguished teaching of undergraduate students and for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education."

Mary's primary research interests focus on understanding transient stress wave propagation in bounded solids, pattern recognition, the development of sensing techniques for detecting cracks and flaws in materials, and evaluation of materials and structures.  She and her graduate students invented and perfected a method and an instrument, called Impact-Echo, for nondestructive evaluation of concrete and masonry structures (highways, buildings, bridges, dams, tunnels, etc.). Impact-echo instruments are now manufactured in North America, Asia, and Europe and are in use worldwide for nondestructive testing of concrete and masonry structures.  In 2002, the American Association for the Advancement of Science named her as a Fellow "for development of the impact-echo method and instrument for the evaluation of civil infrastructure world-wide and for extraordinary contributions to undergraduate education."

AUW Founder, Kamal Ahmad, will step down as Acting Vice Chancellor effective immediately and has also announced his resignation as President and CEO of the Asian University for Women Support Foundation effective September 30, 2011.  Kamal has been a visionary founder, committed to the highest standards of academic excellence.  He has been fully devoted to launching the university for nearly a decade and bringing the university to its current state of success.  Kamal has yet to announce his next venture, but it will undoubtedly extend his commitment to bringing positive growth and development to the region. On behalf of the entire AUW community, it is with enormous gratitude and respect for all that he has accomplished that we thank him and wish him well.

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