Dr Jorge Auņon, Dean of the UAH College of Engineering, has realized the American dream. Coming to America as a Cuban politcal refugee in 1960, Dr Auņon worked his way though college earning a BS, MS, and PhD from George Washington Unviversity over the course of a decade. Having spent his professional career mostly in academia, Dr Auņon has served on faculty and administrative staffs at Perdue, Colorado State, and Texas Tech Unversities before taking his current position at UAH.

When asked why he chose UAH upon leaving Texas, Dr Auņon says it was because of the 200+ high-tech companies which call Huntsville home. "We have something here that Tuscaloosa doesn't have and Georgia Tech doesn't have."

Since coming to UAH in 1999, Dr Auņon's accomplishments include the initiation of several new programs as well as winning last year's coveted IEEE Outstanding Educator Award. Programs begun by Dr.Auņon include the engineering student picnic, the Order of the Ring, the Distinguished Alumni award, and an Engineering Summer Camp.

The Engineering Student Picnic is held near the beginning of the fall term and serves as a forum through which students can meet and converse with COE faculty. It is also an opportunity for student groups and professional societies to showcase their organizations to students looking to get involved.

The Order of the Ring is a ceremony at which graduating engineers are invited to join the international Order of the Engineer. At the ceremony, inductees recognize that the primary purpose of engineering is service to the public and that all members of the engineering profession share a common bond.

Held in conjunction with and preceding the the Order of the Ring ceremony is the presentation of the year's Distinguished Alumni Award. This award recognizes outstanding accomplishments which UAH engineering graduates have achieved and is presented in conjunction with the Order of the Ring ceremony with the intention that soon-to-be graduates will be inspired to achieve great things. Past winners of the award include NASA astronaut Jan Davis and Dynetics president Mark Van Dickson.

Dr Auņon and his staff also put together the first (of hopefully many) Engineering Summer Camps last year. These are a collection of activities, both classroom and practical, which are meant to give high school seniors an introduction into the various engineering disciplines. Twenty-six students from all across the South, including Puerto Rico, attended last year. Work is currently underway to for a $600K National Science Foundation grant to further enhance and expand the program.

In addition to the programs which Dr Auņon has initiated, he is also leading several ongoing efforts to improve the college. These include a push to make sure the mathematics instruction students receive as underclassmen better fits the needs of an upperclassman engineer. The college is also working with the Army aviation community in establishing a Rotocraft Center of Excellance and with industry, alumni, students, and faculty in ensuring that the engineering curriculum at UAH far exceeds to requirements for ABET accreditation.

When asked what the biggest problem was within the college, Dr Auņon immediatly referenced faculty salaries. "We are way below national standards. We could be as much as 15% below national averages." says Auņon. The senior faculty are the ones taking it on the chin the hardest since new faculty members are brought on at a competitive salary. "You can only ask faculty to do so much" according to Aunon. All feasible solutions to this problem are being implemented; however, the fundamental problem is a lack of state funding and only when that funding is reinstated will all salaries become competitive.

When asked about the college's involvement with Dr Franz's and the administration's inititive to turn UAH into a more traditional campus, Dr Aunon replied that UAH is unlike many schools in that it is not a residential campus. The university currently has plans to increase on campus housing and bring more school sporting events on campus, but it will take student and faculty involvement to increase the number and frequency of student group activities. By name, Dr. Aunon mentioned the Engineering Student Council (esc.uah.edu) and the various professional societies as ways for students to get involved.