July 22, 2015 Mr. Buddy LeTourneau, Principal BLT Consulting Mooresville, North Carolina 28117 Dear Mr. LeTourneau, I am honored to apply for the position of Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). Considering UTC s commitment to excellence and to make a difference in the life of students and the community, I strongly believe that the position requires a dynamic and innovative leadership enhanced with solid experience in academic administration and expertise in teaching, research, professional service, and collaboration. I would welcome the opportunity to work on behalf of faculty, staff, and students to further the strengths and competitive advantages of this outstanding academic institution. A copy of my resume is enclosed. Upon your request, I will gladly supply additional materials and professional references. In this letter, I will briefly describe my background and highlight my qualifications for the position. I am Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (CCEE) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Engineering. As you review my resume, you will find that I have a record of result-oriented, successful academic leadership, effective collaborative approaches, and resourceful administrative experience, which are consistent with the values and expectations of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at UTC. Since assuming the chairmanship of the CCEE Department at UAB, I have worked on several fronts in an effort to advance the Department and support its faculty. Some of my major contributions as Department Chair include: Increasing the annual extramural research funding from $0.5M to $6M in 5 years; Establishing a number of national and international partnerships in research and education; Increasing the number of graduate students from 30 in 2006 to over 200 presently; Establishing a joint PhD program in Civil Engineering with the University of Alabama in Huntsville; Establishing an online Master s program in Construction Engineering Management; Establishing of six Graduate Certificate Programs to support local professional community needs and international programs; Establishing an undergraduate concentration in Sustainable Engineering Design and Construction; Revising the undergraduate curriculum to meet the needs of regional employers; Establishing an undergraduate Honors program in Civil Engineering that focuses on experiential learning and student traineeships and internships with local industry; Fouad Page 1 of 5
Developing student recruitment strategies and establishing programs with middle and high schools in our region with the goal of increasing our undergraduate enrollment by 50% in 2018; Establishing Summer Enrichment Program with HBCUs in Alabama to enhance student diversity; Leading successful ABET accreditations in 2000, 2006, and 2012; Developing effective collaborations with private business, academic institutions, and city and state governmental organizations; Leading several successful philanthropic and fund raising activities; Adding full-time faculty through partnerships with local industry and through the establishment of revenue-earning programs; Establishing an External Advisory Board of business leaders from across the Southeast that has been highly active and engaged for over 15 years. As a Department Chair, in a relatively short time I was able to build and promote strong undergraduate and graduate programs that are highly regarded within the academic and engineering communities. I have been extensively involved in accreditation efforts for my University and Department with SACS and ABET. I serve as a national and international program evaluator for ABET and have conducted a number of evaluation visits in the US and abroad. Based on local government, state, and business community needs and with funding support from the External Advisory Board I formed, I was able to hire excellent faculty and establish the Master s program in Construction Engineering Management in 2008. First delivered in-class, by 2012 it became a fully online program, with over $1.5M in annual revenue and current enrollment exceeding 150. In 2013, it was ranked 27th Best Online Graduate Engineering Program by the US News & World Report. Due to the program s huge success, the Department will be introducing another online Master s program in Structural Engineering in Fall 2015. A hallmark of my leadership is a strong commitment to strategic planning. I place special emphasis on involving all faculty as well as students, staff, and faculty from other departments in the strategic planning process. After establishing the goals and objectives for the activity being planned, the participants are grouped in teams, each team responsible for addressing one or more of the objectives. The participants jointly develop the key performance indicators (KPIs) and a timeline for the action items; and an experienced facilitator is always brought in to oversee the process, guide the discussions, and ensure transparency. As Chair, I also established annual strategic planning retreats, which included community and business stakeholders. This process helped enhance the Department s academic quality and promoted continuous improvement. My strategic planning experience will be beneficial for the departments and centers of the College of Engineering & Computer Science at UTC and their evolving strategic plans. I can efficiently help set long- and short-term goals and work with department heads, faculty, and students toward attaining research, teaching, and service goals and documenting achievements. Fouad Page 2 of 5
I have demonstrated success in cultivating and engaging important internal and external stakeholders, which has resulted in an impressive fundraising and development track record. Examples include: Establishment of an endowed support fund for the Department by its External Advisory Board; Raising over $1M from the construction industry and businesses to establish a Master s program in Construction Engineering Management and hire the first program director; Partnership with the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT), which resulted in contributions of over $2M for research in the past 2 years, in addition to the regular grant funding from ALDOT; Securing funds from local businesses for student scholarships, fellowships, and paid internships; Partnership with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham that led to ongoing funding since 2007 for congestion management and city planning projects; Establishment of the Alumni Leadership Council (ALC) with the mission of fostering excellence and providing a union between alumni, students, and the Department. The ALC is currently raising funds to establish a CAD Laboratory for the CCEE Department that will bolster our student engineering skills as well as serve the professional engineering community needs. My administrative philosophy for student, faculty, and staff development is attract and make thrive. I promote teaching excellence and offer opportunities for leadership development to faculty and staff, and experiential education for students. My leadership style is distinctly collaborative, and I have been successful at bringing disparate groups to creative solutions through problem-solving teamwork. I have come to believe that an educational institution is a complex organism, each part of which can be motivated and engaged intellectually and pragmatically. I am proud of establishing a number of international collaborations with universities and industry partners to expand the experiences of our students, enhance their skills, expose them to other cultures, and prepare them for practice in a global environment. Since 2008, I have initiated several Study Abroad and joint PhD programs and have developed Memoranda of Understating with a number of universities, research institutions, and industry partners in the Middle East, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The most recent is a partnership with the University of Staffordshire in the UK, which was initiated in 2012. This collaboration resulted in a new dualdegree interdisciplinary Master s program in Sustainable Smart Cities, which will be delivered exclusively online, beginning Spring 2016. My track record of innovation is exemplified by several nationally recognized state-of-the-art initiatives. I am the lead investigator and director of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus Project at UAB, which investigates the use of hydrogen as an alternative energy source for light-duty vehicles. In 2012, I founded the UAB Sustainable Smart Cities (SSC) Research Center, which fosters crossdisciplinary research, training, and outreach aimed at creating of innovative solutions for sustainable smart cities and communities by integrating health, socio-economic impacts, and infrastructure design. The Center signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Birmingham for joint activities that promote livability and economic development, and won the 2014 IBM Smarter Cities challenge grant. In collaboration with the Birmingham City Fouad Page 3 of 5
Department of Community Development, the SSC Research Center is working on a community resilience grant to revitalize communities affected by natural disasters. We will be developing state-of-the-art sustainable infrastructure and livable built environment in Pratt City, which was hit by tornadoes in 2012. The SSC Center funds pilot projects and holds an annual international scientific symposium. It has established community and workforce development programs, such as the Summer Enrichment Program for incoming minority college freshmen, and the Youth Champion Program for underserved middle-school students in which education on sustainability, environmental health, and healthy living is emphasized. As a result of the extensive collaborations with the City, I was appointed in 2015 by the Council of the City of Birmingham to serve on the Board of Directors of the Solid Waste Disposal Authority of the City of Birmingham at the recommendation of Mayor William A. Bell, Sr. for a term expiring July 12, 2019. My vision for higher education embraces a deep commitment to diversity. As Chair, I lead a diverse team of colleagues in terms of race, gender, age, and national origin. I encourage hiring of women and minorities in the CCEE Department; I am a strong believer in leadership by women faculty and always worked on removal of gender-based obstacles to career success and satisfaction of women faculty. I have supported opportunities for international education, including organizing of international conferences and initiating of Study Abroad programs. For many years, I have been an avid supporter of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program whose main goal is increasing the quantity and quality of underrepresented minority students that successfully complete degree programs in STEM fields. Additionally, I have established strong collaborations with Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Southeast, which have led to significant faculty involvement in research and teaching. To be an effective academic leader, it is important to be a scientifically successful and credible role model to faculty. In addition to my Department Chair administrative and fiscal responsibilities, I was able to maintain a nationally and internationally recognized program of scholarly research. I have secured over $12M in extramurally funded research studies, contributed to the scientific literature with more than 100 refereed publications, and organized several national and international conferences. My major research efforts include the development of a new AASHTO Standard Specifications for Structural Supports for Highway Signs, Luminaries, and Traffic Signals. In addition, my research focuses on concrete materials and precast concrete products. I have applied this research to practice, investigating innovative civil engineering materials and structural products and technologies, some of which have been granted U.S. patents and are widely used in the industry. This experience could be valuable in developing regional business and research partnerships at the College of Engineering and Computer Science at UTC. My teaching is well recognized by students and colleagues. I have taught a large number of courses and have developed new courses as well. My teaching has always been of the highest caliber, which was recognized by several awards including the receipt of the Ellen Greg Ingalls Award, UAB s Highest Honor for Excellence in Teaching. Fouad Page 4 of 5
In the area of professional service, I have a demonstrated record of involvement and leadership. I am a fellow of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) and the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE). Currently, I chair two national technical committees in the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM), and the Pre-stressed Concrete Institute (PCI). I also serve on a number of technical committees in these organizations, as well as in other professional societies. My leadership on these committees has resulted in the development and publication of numerous standards and technical reports. In recognition of these efforts, I was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by ASTM for my services and efforts in developing national standards and specifications. Additionally, I serve as Associate Director of the National Center for Transportation Systems Productivity and Management (NCTSPM), a Tier 1 University Transportation Center funded by the US Department of Transportation and headquartered at Georgia Institute of Technology. The Center is collaboration between Georgia Tech, UAB, University of Central Florida, and Florida International University. Significant efforts were expended to leverage substantial additional funding that benefited the participating campuses and made the Center a success. The Center was used to increase faculty research funding, support new faculty research programs, and attract undergraduate and graduate students with interest in transportation research. The College of Engineering & Computer Science at UTC commitment to excellence in teaching, diversity, scholarship, and community services, reflected in its mission and shared vision for its graduates makes it an attractive and exciting institution of higher learning. I would welcome the opportunity to be part of a team committed to the achievement of this vision. It is with a sense of personal challenge that I seek this leadership position at your prestigious institution. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss with you or members of the nomination committee my interest in the position. Feel free to contact me if you need additional information. Sincerely, Fouad H. Fouad, Ph.D., P.E. Professor and Chair Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering University of Alabama at Birmingham Fouad Page 5 of 5