campus news
Jingfeng Xia
Trib Puri
Terry Barry
campus briefs
Three deans appointed
Joanne Bruno, J.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs, announced the appointment of three new deans: Terry Barry, Ed.D., College of Education, Trib Puri, Ph.D., College of Business and Management, and Jingfeng Xia, Ph.D., library and university collections. Barry was interim dean of the College of Education since 2014. Prior to that, he served as the associate dean of the college from 2012-2014. Barry has served in leadership roles on a number of committees in his time at the university, including serving as the chairperson on the Teacher Education Council, the PAC-TE PDE 430 Student Teacher Evaluation Development Committee, the PDE Field Experience Competency Mapping Committee, the Student Teacher Supervisors’ Committee, the Assessment Accreditation Specialist Hiring Committee, the Teacher Education Unit and the East Stroudsburg University Strategic Planning Committee- Community Relations. Under Dr. Barry’s leadership, the first doctoral program in ESU’s history has been approved by the State System. Prior to his time at ESU, Dr. Barry served as the principal of Wind Gap Middle School in Wind Gap, Pa., from 2001-2012. Prior to accepting a position at ESU, Puri has been on the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Temple University, and Scranton University. He has also been a visiting professor of finance at Drexel University. As a veteran teacher, Puri has developed and taught many undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral level finance courses. He also has supervised doctoral dissertations. Puri has contributed to the theory and practice of finance and his research papers are published in leading peer-reviewed journals of finance. He received a Ph.D. in Finance and an M.A. in Economics from The University of Tennessee Knoxville, a master’s in Mechanical Engineering for Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India, and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from G.B. Pant University, India.
Bajor named director of graduate and extended studies William J. Bajor, Ph.D., has been named the director of graduate and extended studies of ESU. Bajor comes to ESU from New Jersey City University where he most recently served as the acting director of the division of professional and lifelong learning. As director of graduate and extended studies, Bajor will provide leadership within graduate and professional studies in order to establish and maintain excellent academic programs. He will plan and implement educational policies and curricula, provide leadership in creating, developing, and implementing programs and initiatives which serve the educational and training needs for Pennsylvania’s industry leaders and public agencies and identify the programs and courses that will best serve the needs and interests of students and faculty. He will also oversee the Lehigh Valley Center, located in Bethlehem, Pa., which offers accelerated undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
Cohen receives ESyou Employee of the Year award Seven ESU employees were selected by faculty, staff and students to be recognized throughout the 2015-2016 academic year as an “ESyoU” honoree for demonstrating student-centered service. From left: Linda VanMeter, Ph.D., director and chair of counseling and psychological services; Nancy Weaver, Ph.D., assistant to the vice president for student affairs; Bob Cohen, Ph.D., professor and chair of physics; President Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D., Peter Pruim, Ph.D., professor of philosophy and co-director of the honors program; Lourdes O’Kane, recently appointed executive assistant to the vice president for student affairs; and Margaret Ball, D.M.A., professor and chair of theatre. President Welsh presented Dr. Cohen with the ESyoU Employee of the Year award as a result of a poll conducted via social media. (Not pictured: Erica Brilhart, assistant to the vice president for enrollment management.)
Xia served as Director of the Library and Learning Resources Center for the State University of New York at Rockland prior to accepting a position with ESU. In his role, he articulated a strategic vision and served as advocate for the library within the college and larger community. He successfully secured several grants to support the development of library services and collections, including a renovation project to convert existing collection areas into multifunctional information commons for individual and group learning and study. Throughout his career, Xia also served as an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University, a reference and instruction librarian at Rutgers University, and a digital projects librarian at the University of Florida. 16
the alumni herald
Photo by Susie Forrester