STU Appoints New Dean of the School of Science, Technology & Engineering Management
Provost Gregory S. Chan, in consultation with St. Thomas University President, Monsignor Franklyn M. Casale, the University’s Senior Staff, and Members of the Search Committee, announced the appointment of Dr. Wim F.A. Steelant as the newly designated Dean of St. Thomas University’s School of Science, Technology and Engineering Management (STEM).
Dr. Wim F.A. Steelant is an associate professor and head of the Department of Chemistry at New Mexico Tech. His successful academic track record includes a Bachelor’s degree in Analytical Chemistry (1992) followed by a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering (1993). He obtained his Ph.D in Biology focusing on Biomedicine and Biochemistry at the University of Amsterdam in 2000 in collaboration with the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Ziekenhuis Department of Tumor Biology; the Department of Experimental Therapy in Amsterdam’s Ghent University Hospital; the Department of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine of the University of Ghent, Belgium; and the University of Lille, Laboratory of Biochemistry, in Lille, France. He completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Washington’s Department of Pathobiology and the Pacific Northwest Research Institute. In 2002, Dr. Steelant became a tenure track faculty in New Mexico Tech and he created a Biochemical and Biomedical research facility. Since 2006, he published 19 peer-reviewed paper, with numerous undergraduate and graduate students as co-authors and the establishment of several national and international collaborations. During that period, the sum of $2,000,000 was secured through his engagement as principal investigator, co-principal investigator or collaborator, which warranted the success of this engagement.
His colleagues refer to Dr. Steelant as a “self-motivated, extremely bright, and articulate leader, a hard worker and a very honest and ethical person, someone who embraces faculty and students with trust and strong leadership to produce results.” As the designated Dean of St. Thomas’ Science, Technology and Engineering Management, Dr. Steelant will implement a STU STEM-REROUT Plan to elevate the University’s STEM as the best undergraduate research school in the Southeast United States. REROUT stands for Recruitment, Retention and Output. “As the Designated Dean, Dr. Steelant will create new collaborations of partnership research and student exchange among the University of Washington; New Mexico Tech; the University of Lille, France; Ghent University, Belgium; and Dutch Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, the Netherlands,” says Provost Chan. “He will elevate the already recognized quality of existing undergraduate student and faculty research and degree programs in the School of Science, Technology and Engineering Management to a higher level of academic excellence.