The College of New Jersey on Tuesday announced that Andrea Welker has been named dean of the School of Engineering, effective July 1.
Welker comes to TCNJ from Villanova University, where she began her faculty career in 1999. In her current leadership role, which she has held for six years, she serves as associate dean for academic affairs for the College of Engineering, where she is responsible for undergraduate programs and policies; diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; student programming, support and retention; entrepreneurial engineering programs; strategic planning and implementation; and assessment.
At Villanova, Welker was a co-founder of the College of Engineering’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. As a result of these efforts, Villanova’s College of Engineering was recognized by the American Society for Engineering Education with Bronze status for diversity in engineering, a distinction that Villanova shares with TCNJ.
Welker has also provided substantial leadership in international partnerships and programming. She has led the college’s study abroad efforts, including creating a new partnership with Strathmore University in Nairobi, Kenya.
At the national level, Welker has been deeply engaged with the American Society for Engineering Education. She has held numerous leadership positions within ASEE, including serving as chair of the Civil Engineering Division. She has also been a national leader for the Kern Engineering Entrepreneurship Network. Additionally, in 2021, she accepted the ABET Innovation Award for Career Compass professional development program.
“We are delighted to bring such a distinguished administrator-teacher-scholar to this important deanship,” said Jeffrey Osborn, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
