Sheying Chen, Ph.D., Assoc. Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Indiana University Southeast, Appointed Assoc. Provost

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contacts/Pace Public Information: Samuella Becker, 212-346-1637 or 917-734-5172, Sbecker2@pace.edu and Bill Caldwell, 212-346-1597, wcaldwell@pace.edu

Sheying Chen, Ph.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at Indiana University Southeast, Appointed Pace University’s New Associate Provost for Academic Affairs

As an experienced academic administrator and first-class scholar, Chen has international pedigree, student retention success, extensive faculty development expertise and strong fiscal management skills.

NEW YORK, NY, June 24, 2010 – Sheying Chen, who has deep roots in the Social Sciences and global experience as a professor, administrator, researcher, author and editor of numerous publications, has been named as the new Associate Provost for Academic Affairs at Pace University, effective July 1.

Chen will have responsibility for faculty development, educational technology, instructional resources, and institutional research.  He will oversee the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology; the Pforzheimer Center for Faculty Development; the Office of Planning and Institutional Research, and the University Library.

“Dr. Chen brings an expert understanding of issues and opportunities involving education abroad, international research and development, recruiting international students and global studies curricula,” said Pace University President Stephen J. Friedman.  “He is the perfect addition to help us achieve the real-world challenges reflected in our five-year strategic plan.”

Chen, 54, is currently serving as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor of Sociology and Liberal Studies at Indiana University Southeast, where he works as part of a leadership team in the key areas of equity and diversity, faculty development, enrollment management, and academic initiatives including first year seminars, state-sponsored 21st Century Scholars, postdoctoral and international fellows, leadership academy, grants support, alternative course delivery, institutional planning, and accreditation. His wide-ranging expertise will be an excellent addition to Pace University’s management team, which combines new and long-standing administrators.

Chen joins Pace at the same time as new deans for the Lubin School of Business and the School of Education.  Dean of Dyson College of the Arts and Sciences, Nira Herrmann, who chaired the national search committee, said that “Dr. Chen was our top choice for Associate Provost for Academic Affairs; he has an excellent combination of academic and administrative skill.”

“Pace University is poised for growth,” said Chen. “I am looking forward to joining and helping to lead a motivated team that includes respected faculty, staff and administrators who are enthusiastic about Pace’s future and take pride in the University’s excellent reputation.  The fact that Pace doesn’t rest on its laurels but continuously explores new opportunities, such as founding the first university-based Confucius Institute in New York City in 2009, was a major draw.”

As a child growing up during China’s Cultural Revolution, Chen’s formal education was curtailed when he was sent to the countryside at the age of 13 with his family.  “I was forbidden to have an education,” recalled Chen.  “But I educated myself and later passed a competitive national exam to gain entry into college, after four years in the countryside and five years as an industrial worker.” After graduation, he worked as a business manager for four years before becoming one of China’s first sociology graduate students, intrigued by the rapid social change and a surge of social problems.

Prior to the Indiana University Southeast appointment, Chen served as Dean of the College of Professional Studies and Professor of Social, Health, and Education Administration at University of Guam (a U.S. land grant institution in the Western Pacific region), which was combined from three former colleges: Business and Public Administration; Education; Nursing, Social Work and Health Sciences. He held a tenured professorship in social work at City University of New York, College of Staten Island, where he headed a large unit housing sociology, anthropology, psychology, social work, disability studies, women’s studies, and a number of interdisciplinary initiatives. He worked at UCLA, California State University, and University of Hong Kong and was on the permanent faculty of Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, in one of the first major sociology departments re-established after the Cultural Revolution in China with assistance from University of Pittsburgh until 1992. A forerunner in social work and social policy education and aging study in China, he also served as a coordinator for higher degrees and graduate affairs at Zhongshan, where he designed the first national training program for social work & policy educators and authored the first national lecture series on community service.

Chen received his Ph.D. and an MSW from the School of Public Policy & Social Research at the University of California, Los Angeles. He also holds an M.A. in Sociology from Zhongshan University and an engineering technology diploma from Changsha Technical College (now part of Central-South University), China. His numerous professional development certificates include one earned from the postdoctoral intensive in higher education management and leadership at Harvard University.

The undergraduate and graduate courses Chen has taught over the years range from Computerized Statistical Analysis and Community Research and Practice to Social Problems and Introductory Sociology, to Social Policy and Planning and Introduction to Social Work, and to Honors Seminar on Non-Western Experience and First Year Seminar on College Success. His previous research positions include working as research associate for the School of Public Policy and Social Research at the University of California, research scientist for GG&A Research and Consulting (Los Angeles), and project manager on an international study on mental health and social support of elderly Asians and Asian Americans at UCLA. His list of current research projects is wide-ranging as is his list of review panels, board service and sponsorship and he’s been a reviewer for an extensive list of publishers. His publication records include projects on higher education management/academic administration, volumes on research methods and measurement/analysis issues, works on aging and mental health, articles and books on general public policy (GPP) (especially social policy of a changing “economic state”) and international development, and the world’s first comparative book on community care in China.

About Pace University: For more than 100 years, Pace University has been preparing students to become leaders in their fields. A private university, Pace provides an education that combines exceptional academics with professional experience and the New York advantage. Pace has campuses in New York City and Westchester County, and enrolls almost 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lienhard School of Nursing, Lubin School of Business, School of Education, School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.  www.pace.edu

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