Dr. Christine Maziar, the Vice President and Senior Associate Provost at the University of Notre Dame, will add to her responsibilities the title of Acting Dean of the Graduate School on Wednesday, August 1. She takes over for outgoing dean Gregory E. Sterling, who left the University to become the Dean of the Yale Divinity School.
Maziar, who has been with the University of Notre Dame since 2004, is no stranger to graduate education, having served as the Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Minnesota from 1998 to 2002, when she was named Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, a title she held until coming to Notre Dame.
During her time as Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School at Minnesota, Maziar was responsible for the oversight and administration of an externally funded research program of approximately $500 million. As Dean of the Graduate School, she provided central coordination of more than 150 graduate level programs and more than 7000 students. She was also instrumental in the creation of the 21st Century Graduate Fellowship Endowment, which matches private gifts for fellowships through royalty funds generated by sales of a drug patented by a University researcher. Over 200 new fellowship endowments were established through that matching program.
In her role as Vice President and Senior Associate Provost at Notre Dame, Maziar has primary responsibility for academic planning and budget for the entire university. She provides oversight for the development of the academic budget, the appointment process for faculty and the promotion process for non-tenure track faculty.
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Dr. Maziar received the BSEE (with Highest Distinction) in 1981, the MSEE in 1984 and the Ph.D. in 1986, all from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. In 1987, she joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, where she also served the campus as a Vice Provost for three years.
Dr. Maziar received the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Young Investigator Award in 1990 and the Semiconductor Research Corporation’s Technical Excellence Award in 1992. She was named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2002. She received the Outstanding Electrical Engineer Award from Purdue University in 2000 and the Distinguished Engineer Award in 2003.
Dr. Maziar’s research interests involve developing models and computer simulation tools which describe charge transport in semiconductor device structures, transport phenomena in ultra-small structures, structures under high electric fields and structures composed of superlattices or novel materials. Her Ph.D. students have assumed challenging positions at such major microelectronics corporations as Intel, Motorola, Micron and AMD, and she has authored or co-authored over 150 research publications and presentations.
In addition to her appointment at Notre Dame, Dr. Maziar currently serves on the Cornell University College of Engineering Advisory Council and the Purdue University College of Engineering Advisory Council, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Oak Ridge Associated Universities.