Whitewater, Wisconsin, United States
Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a public intellectual and a college professor with experience in higher education leadership. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Miami, Florida. He has published more than 1,100 pieces, including more than 30 books and monographs. He has developed a significant number of outreach programs that include, but are not limited to, the use of traditional media and emerging electronic, social ones. He has produced/directed/written/hosted hundreds of TV and radio shows while writing hundreds of non-academic pieces in the form of regular newspaper columns and magazine articles. His academic interests range from environmental and evolutionary biology to history and philosophy of science, science communication, and higher education. He has been awarded numerous grants as well as prizes for his research and science communication work.
As Administrator: • To offer personalized, supportive attention for its more than 3,000 majors, as well as unique programs linking the arts and sciences with business and public affairs. • To supervise a dynamic, collegial, and nationally-recognized faculty of more than 240 full-time members, organized into 13 departments, with courses in disciplines traditionally considered essential to a well-rounded education. • Supervise instruction in in all courses in the arts and sciences including 40 undergraduate minors. • To provide exciting opportunities for freshmen students through learning communities, and for advanced arts and sciences students through intensive interdisciplinary seminars and independent study. • To offer a series of specializations that bridge the Weissman School with the Zicklin School of Business and School of Public Affairs, such as Business Writing, Corporate Communication, Graphic Communication, and Management of Musical Enterprises. • Supervise Master's programs in Arts Administration, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Corporate Communication, Mental Health Counseling, and Financial Engineering. • Serving as a member of the President's Cabinet. • Responsible for leadership of the Weissman School's planning, budgeting and faculty development and for managing its programs to enhance its quality and reputation. • Leading the implementation of the WSAS strategic plan and coordinating the School's role in carrying out the College's strategic plan. • Strengthen and expand relationships with both external and internal constituencies and will help develop additional financial resources for the School to carry out its mission.
Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a public intellectual and a college professor with experience in higher education administration. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Miami, Florida. He has published more than 1,100 pieces, including more than 30 books and monographs. He has developed a significant number of outreach programs that include, but are not limited to, the use of traditional media and emerging electronic, social ones. He has produced/directed/written/hosted hundreds of TV and radio shows while writing hundreds of non-academic pieces in the form of regular newspaper columns and magazine articles. His academic interests range from environmental and evolutionary biology to history and philosophy of science, science communication, and higher education. He has been awarded numerous grants as well as prizes for his research and science communication work.
Past administrative experiences • Responsible for 19 departments and 85 areas of study, which include more than 300 full-time faculty/instructors who deliver classes to more than 8,000 students. • Overseeing an annual operating budget of $22+ million plus external research grants and contracts totaling $8 million+. • Development in conjunction with faculty of a 5-year strategic plan. • Fundraising from individuals, foundations, and corporations. • Founded and currently direct the Cuban and Caribbean Center (http://www.siue.edu/CAS/CCC/ and http://vimeo.com/55283338). • Developed the Interdisciplinary Roundtables. • Created the Visiting Scholar Initiative. • Continued supporting the Faculty Development initiative. • Founded the journal Polymath, an electronic, open-access, peer-review, interdisciplinary journal (https://ojcs.siue.edu/ojs/index.php/polymath/about). • Developed a number of outreach initiatives including books, weekly newspaper columns, radio, TV shows, and documentaries, as well as social media venues and campus wide arts festivals. • Developed programs to attract and retain students, faculty, and staff of ethnic groups traditionally underrepresented in academia. • Increased overall enrollment and retention of students. • Implemented professional advising within the College. • Ensured that every program that could be accredited was accredited. • Supervised the construction and renovation of a science complex ($80,000,000), the expansion and renovation of the Art & Design Building ($14,000,000) (http://www.siue.edu/artsandsciences/WebCam.html),the building of an astronomical observatory, and upgrading of the research and teaching greenhouse. • Furthered the importance of a liberal arts education (http://vimeo.com/28207561). I have also testified before a congressional subcommittee on the importance of supporting a liberal arts education (http://www.amacad.org/binaries/video/streamPlayer.aspx?i=2750). v=BKercxj0cCI&feature=player_embedded)
• Responsible for 24 tenured/tenured-track faculty members, 4 full-time instructors, 2 full-time staff, 550 undergraduate students and 69 graduate students. • Responsible for B.S., M.S., M.A. degrees as well as Ph.D. degrees in associated programs of Environmental Sciences and Molecular Biosciences. • Responsible for undergraduate tracks in diverse areas including, but not limited to, Wildlife Management and Environmental Biology. • Overseeing an operating budget of approximately $2 million per year, plus external research grants and contracts totaling approximately $16 million in annual expenditures. • I created the appropriate environment in which there was an increase in number of scholarly publications by more than 600% and the amount of grant money received by nearly 600%. • Developing numerous outreach programs such as the publication of popular books, editing and writing many articles for the weekly science column in the local newspaper, producing and directing a nationally syndicated weekly radio show, as well as several TV documentaries. • I co-developed the “Science Flicks” series projecting science-based movies followed by a discussion with a panel of experts from both across campus and even external guests and later became a course. • I co-organized the monthly events for the 2009 “Year of Science.” • Fundraising for improving the infrastructure of several of teaching labs and outreach initiatives such as “The Hall of Science” and an ecological garden. • I was the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Integrative Biosciences, a peer-reviewed, open access electronic journal. • I led the initiative of having ASU to sign the Talloires Declaration aimed at increasing the environmental sustainability on campus. • I created and led initiatives such as the Interdisciplinary roundtables. • I led the initiative of creating a departmental library. • Developed a web site in six different languages and I produced a recruitment poster in Spanish.
• I was responsible of an interdisciplinary program that integrated faculty and students across several disciplines and departments around an environmental curriculum. • Developed new courses in the environmental studies area not only strongly interdisciplinary but also innovative in nature and approaches. • I recruited, mentored, and promoted students, faculty, and staff of ethnic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the natural/environmental sciences. • Stressed initiatives involving undergraduate students in faculty scholarly activities. • Emphasized interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and research. • Promoted environmental literacy across campus and among students, faculty, and staff. • Prepared students for a wide variety of career options. • Developed a very active outreach program by offering public lectures and lecture series, seminars, workshops, and conferences. • I founded and was the first Editor-In-Chief of the Macalester Environmental Review, a peer-reviewed, open-access electronic journal. • Produced an annual report on the nature and development of environmental academic programs in U.S. institutions of higher education. • I led the initiative of signing the Talloires Declaration aimed at increasing the environmental sustainability on campus. • I was the Director of the College’s Ordway Natural History Study Area, a nature preserve and a field station. • Supervised an annual environmental audit of the campus. • I encouraged inter-departmental cooperation and participation and a maximization of campus resources, both human and material. • I created and taught new courses such as Environmental Analysis and Problem Solving (undergraduate, seminar). Environmental Issues in Latin America and the Caribbean (undergraduate, graduate, seminar), Environmental Science (graduate and undergraduate, lecture), Biology of Marine Mammals, Laboratory of Marine Mammalogy, Marine Biology, and Field Studies in Marine Biology.