College welcomes new dean of School of Science and Engineering

NEW PALTZ — The State University of New York at New Paltz has appointed

Daniel A. Jelski

Daniel A. Jelski as dean of the School of Science and Engineering. Jelski comes to New Paltz with 20 years of science-related higher education experience, both as a professor and administrator.

Currently, Jelski is professor of chemistry and department head at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, IN, a private, undergraduate institution with 1,900 students that offers programs in engineering, science and mathematics. At Rose-Hulman, Jelski has led the redesign of the general chemistry program, initiated the creation of a biochemistry and molecular biology major, and doubled the number of students majoring in chemistry.

Previously, Jelski had served as an associate professor of chemistry at SUNY Fredonia until 2000, where he began as a visiting professor of chemistry in 1988. During that time, he was recognized with a Fulbright Scholar award for research and teaching at Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, Africa. He was also a post-doctoral research associate at SUNY Buffalo in the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 1985-1988.

Jelski received his Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry from Northern Illinois University in 1985 and completed his undergraduate work in chemistry at the University of Chicago. He has been the recipient of the 2002 Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research in Bloomington, IN, and the invited guest of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest (2000); the Department of Physics at the University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland (1992); and the Institute of General Physics at the USSR Academy of Sciences in Moscow (1991). He was also a recipient of the Emerson Center Fellowship Award at Emory University in Atlanta, GA, in 1995.

David Lavallee, provost of SUNY New Paltz, said, "We’re very pleased to have attracted our faculty’s top candidate. The School of Science and Engineering is poised to build upon its programs for faculty-student interactive research and Dr. Jelski has the experience and enthusiasm to fulfill our expectations."

Prior to Jelski’s appointment, John Harrington had served as the school’s founding dean since the program’s inception. Harrington retires this August.

The School of Science and Engineering was established in 2001 to bring a mathematics and science focus to the New Paltz campus. It offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in chemistry, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, environmental science, geology, mathematics and physics.

Jelski begins his duties at New Paltz on Aug. 1.

For more information about the School of Science and Engineering, visit www.newpaltz.edu/sse.