Srolovitz appointed Yeshiva dean

Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor and department chair David Srolovitz was appointed dean of Yeshiva College on Nov. 8.

His new position is effective June 1, 2006 and will result in his departure from the MAE department and the materials science research group he leads.

"My departure gives the department and the school an opportunity to take a careful look at what they are doing and make new, strategic moves," Srolovitz said in an email. "The department has been very successful in doing this in the past and I am confident this will continue."

MAE department administrator Janel McCaffrey said the department is "facing the unknown right now." Another department administrator, business manager Jenny Kokini, added, "We have made strides but won't know what happens when the new person comes" because this news came "right as [Srolovitz] was going in to make changes."

In addition to his administrative and teaching responsibilities, Srolovitz currently heads a research group working on computational materials science. This research involves mainly computer simulations rather than experiments. It is not known how their activities will be altered next year.

Srolovitz's absence will be felt on a personal level as well, colleagues said. Departmental office support staff member Jody Whitehead said, "He goes out of his way to make people who work for him and with him feel comfortable. He was the only source of sanity within our little group."

Kokini also lauded his personality, saying that Srolovitz "appreciates hard work, is a very approachable person," and that he is "busy with a large research program but quick to respond to questions [and] is there when needed."

McCaffrey said, "I couldn't ask for a better person to work for. I don't know how to say it any better than that. I don't think anyone wants to see him go."

Srolovitz said he will most miss "working in an environment where all of my colleagues are spectacular scholars, being able to attract and work with the best and brightest students in the world ... [w]orking in an environment where faculty and staff work together for the betterment of the institution (even when we don't agree on how to do it) [and] having the ability to help my junior colleagues develop their own careers" as an administrator.

Srolovitz was appointed to the University as a professor in 1999 and became department chair in 2004.

Kokini said that Srolovitz has been "an asset to the University as a researcher and a chair. I believe he has brought recognition to his field," she said, noting that he "collaborates with tons of people around the nation."

Unlike his work in his current role, Srolovitz will be responsible for all departments at Yeshiva and for the planned expansion of the college's student body and faculty. He will also have a larger role in fundraising than he has in his current position.

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Srolovitz said in an email that he has several goals, including: "To grow the academic and scholarly achievements and status of the College. To build the College into the best small undergraduate college in the country. To take some of the wonderful ideas in undergraduate education I have learned at Princeton and employ them in the Yeshiva University context ... [and] to help Yeshiva College successfully balance their religious and secular scholarship as they become leaders in their fields and communities."

Srolovitz received a B.S. in physics from Rutgers University, and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in material science from the University of Pennsylvania.