Nourani Brings Specialized Skills to New Role as Associate Provost
Dr. Mehrdad Nourani, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, was recently named an associate provost assisting Dr. Inga Musselman, vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Texas at Dallas. Musselman is planning new initiatives to support the academic mission of the University and has appointed three professors to associate provost roles to help her accomplish those objectives.
Nourani currently oversees the academic administrator review process, as well as faculty institutional research. Currently, he is developing a systematic process for reviewing academic administrators. As part of this responsibility, he intends to streamline the process of collecting and reporting on faculty activity information. The annual reports submitted by faculty highlight their teaching, research and service activities. He hopes to improve the system by making it more efficient.
“All of this submitted information becomes a PDF file that is not easily searchable. I think, as a large academic institution, it is quite important to make it analyzable so we can quickly and accurately parse metrics by programs, departments, schools, or at the university level,” he said.
Nourani also previously served as head of the computer engineering program. His research interests include healthcare technology, bioinformatics and wearable devices. Because the role is half time, he will be able to continue important research as a faculty member. Musselman has also named Dr. Francesca Filbey and Dr. Stephen Spiro as associate provosts, each working in the provost’s office half time, while continuing their research and teaching.
“These are all very senior, accomplished, research-active faculty. To bring them in here full time would make it difficult for them to continue their research,” said Musselman, who holds the Cecil H. Green Distinguished Chair of Academic Leadership. “But by bringing them in half time, they can bring their expertise to help accomplish the academic mission of the University, while gaining experience. At the same time, they can stay connected to their units and keep their research programs moving forward.”