New UT Arlington Liberal Arts Dean has international experience, fundraising record to match academic stature

ARLINGTON, Texas, May 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After a highly competitive national search, The University of Texas at Arlington announces the appointment of Dr. Paul Wong, dean of the College of Arts and Letters at San Diego State University, as the incoming Dean of the UT Arlington College of Liberal Arts effective July 1, 2015.

Dr. Wong brings to UT Arlington a distinguished record of academic accomplishment at SDSU's largest single college that includes 18 academic departments, 15 centers and institutes, a number of research journals and the SDSU Press. The college employs more than 500 full-time and part-time faculty as well as graduate assistants; currently produces about one-third of the credit hours taken by the 35,000 students; and offers bachelors, masters, Master of Fine Arts and doctoral degrees. Dr. Wong also is also director of International Partnerships at SDSU, a professor of sociology and oversees the Social Science Research Laboratory and the Charles Hostler Institute for World Affairs.

"Dr. Paul Wong is an accomplished scholar and seasoned administrator who will bring a wealth of experience and success at enhancing scholarship and academic excellence, funding research, attracting significant donor support, and forging international partnerships that will enrich the experience we offer students in the College of Liberal Arts at UT Arlington," President Vistasp M. Karbhari said. "The College and the University will be getting a superb administrator who will take our liberal arts education to the next level of excellence in national and international engagement for undergraduates, graduates and post-graduates."

Under Dr. Wong's leadership, SDSU's College of Arts and Letters has raised almost $50 million for endowed professorships, scholarships, lectureships and the naming of physical facilities and has active international programs in more than 20 countries through exchanges, research projects, and degree offerings.

"It is my honor to accept this exciting offer to join the leadership team at UT Arlington, a campus that is in the midst of an impressive period of growth, along with the entire North Texas region which it serves," Dr. Wong said. "I look forward to bringing my strengths to an institution that serves a student population and surrounding area that are multi-ethnic, and which President Karbhari rightly predicts will play a major role in shaping the future of North Texas and the entire state."

Dr. Wong joined San Diego State University in 2003. He received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and was a visiting post-doctoral fellow in economics at Berkeley in 1979. During his impressive career in higher education, he has held academic appointments at the University of California at Berkeley, U.C. San Diego, University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign, Arizona State University, and Washington State University, including as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford.

Dr. Wong was associate provost at Colorado State University; dean of Social Sciences at Hong Kong Baptist University; and from 1999 to 2003, served as the dean of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, where he also established and directed the Center for Arab American Studies.

His research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Rosenberg Foundation, Department of Health Resources and Services Administration, and Administration on Aging, among others.

He has published extensively on comparative racial and ethnic issues, Chinese studies, substance abuse, community and mental health, education, poverty and welfare, community studies, policy analysis, and mathematical/statistical applications in the social sciences.

His public and civic engagement includes consulting for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, United States Public Health Service, and the Office of the Arizona State Attorney General. He was appointed by the Chief Executive of Hong Kong to serve as a member of the University Grants Committee (UGC) of Hong Kong, 2000-2002. He is currently working on a book on Social and Cultural Factors in Organ Donation and another book on the Development of Universities in China.

About UT Arlington

The University of Texas at Arlington is a comprehensive research institution of more than 50,000 students in campus-based and online degree programs and is the second largest institution in The University of Texas System. The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked UT Arlington as one of the 20 fastest-growing public research universities in the nation in 2014. U.S. News & World Report ranks UT Arlington fifth in the nation for undergraduate diversity. The University is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is ranked as a "Best for Vets" college by Military Times magazine. Visit www.uta.edu to learn more, and find UT Arlington rankings and recognition at www.uta.edu/uta/about/rankings.php.

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SOURCE The University of Texas at Arlington

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