Aldemaro Romero Jr. has more than 30 years of experience in academia and nonprofit organizations, more than half of which have been in administrative roles. Currently he is the Dean of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College–City University of New York. These are his current responsibilities and accomplishments:
As Administrator:
- Member of the President’s Cabinet.
- Supporting 6,500 students and more than 3,000 majors while supervising 13 departments and many other programs both undergraduate and graduate.
- Supervises a group of nationally-recognized faculty of more than 240 full-time members.
- Dramatically increased the proportion of minorities among the full-time faculty. For the 2018-2019 academic year alone of the 22 new faculty members hired 15 (68.2%) were people of color.
- Responsible for leadership of the Weissman School’s planning, budgeting, and faculty development and for managing its programs, including overseeing a budget of more than $38 million.
- Supervises Master’s programs in Arts Administration, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Corporate Communication, Mental Health Counseling, and Financial Engineering.
- Supervises instruction in all courses in the arts and sciences including 40 undergraduate minors.
- Provides exciting opportunities for first-year students through learning communities, and for advanced arts and sciences students through intensive interdisciplinary seminars and independent study.
- Offers a series of specializations that bridge the Weissman School with the Zicklin School of Business and School of Public Affairs, such as Business Writing, Corporate Communication, Graphic Communication, and Management of Musical Enterprises.
- Supervising the following units within the school: The Baruch Performing Arts Center, the Sidney Mishkin Gallery, the Sidney Harman Writer-in-Residence program, and the Sandra Kahn Wasserman Jewish Studies Center.
- Leading the implementation of the School’s strategic plan and coordinating the School’s role in carrying out the College’s strategic plan.
As Fundraiser:
- Strengthening and expanding relationships with both external and internal constituencies and helping develop additional financial resources for the School to carry out its mission.
- Coordinating Dean’s Council whose members provide financial assistant to the school directly or indirectly through their contacts and own contributions.
- Raised a $125,000 fund for supporting Latin American Art exhibitions in the College’s Mishkin Art Gallery.
- Under my leadership, a Theater Development Fund was created to support the theater program at the Baruch Performing Arts Center.
- Created a fundraising opportunity by producing, directing, hosting, and conducting the concert Venezuelan Fiesta, celebrating the music of his father, Aldemaro Romero Sr., and featuring pianist Selene Quiroga and included the participation of the Alexander String Quartet and friends. The event took place on November 17th, 2018.
- Fundraised for a number of other initiatives.
As Communicator:
- Developing major initiatives regarding the promotion of the liberal arts in general and the School in particular through both conventional and electronic media.
- Developed a Marketing Strategic Plan for the School.
- Development of the weekly video blog “Destination Weissman” about the news of the School under his supervision. More than 70 installments have been broadcast so far.
- Development of the 30-minute radio show and podcast “College Talk” about the life and work of the faculty and special guests to the Weissman School. More than 70 shows have been broadcast so far.
- Writing and distributing a weekly, 1,000-word article column titled “College Talk” which is an upshot of the homonymous radio show. More than 70 articles have been published so far.
- Co-edited the book From Departure to Destination: Reminiscences of the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences at Baruch College, a book of essays on the school with Associate Dean Gary Hentzi, published in November 2017.
- Developed the initiative of setting Wikipedia pages for our faculty members.
- Directed and produced a Music Video for the School.
- Currently developing a new website for the school that incorporates new features such as 3-D and artificial intelligence capabilities.
- Developed social media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube for the School.
As Innovator:
- Developed a diversity plan aimed and increasing 2-D diversity in the School. As a result of that the number of underrepresented minorities in the School has increased dramatically.
- Developed the “Art-A-Thon,” an annual series of events related to the arts and creative writing with the School with some events being broadcast live via Internet worldwide.
- Developed an exhibit of self-taught Latin American artists using my own art collection in order to raise funds for the college’s art gallery.
- Developed the Innovative, Daring, and Exceptional Approach (I.D.E.A.) initiative to foster innovation at the School in the areas of scholarship, pedagogy, and service.
- Raised the funds for creating a 3-D/Virtual Reality teaching lab in which faculty and students can enjoy the opportunities that the virtual technologies have to offer for pedagogical purposes. The Lab opened its doors in the Fall of 2018
- In conjunction with the business school Romero has developed a program that allows our students in the arts and sciences to develop their entrepreneurial capabilities.
Responsibilities and Accomplishments
As Administrator:
- Responsible for 19 departments and 85 areas of study, which include more than 330 full-time faculty/instructors who deliver classes to more than 8,000 students.
- Overseeing an annual operating budget of more than $26 million plus external research grants and contracts totaling more than $8 million.
- Development in conjunction with faculty of a 5-year strategic plan emphasizing initiatives on: (a) interdisciplinary curricula, (b) experiential, hands-on and service learning, (c) internationalization, (d) diversification of faculty, students, and staff, (e) faculty-student engagement, (f) intellectual enrichment and collaboration, (g) increasing the institutional profile, and (h) improving physical and financial assets.
- Supervise the University Botanical Gardens, the University Museum, and the nature preserve.
- Ensured that every program that could be accredited was accredited.
- Supervised the construction and renovation of a science complex ($80,000,000), the expansion and renovation of the Art & Design Building ($14,000,000), the building of an astronomical observatory, and upgrading of the research and teaching greenhouse.
- Increased overall enrollment and retention of students.
- Implemented professional advising within the College. With the centralizing of student advising, faculty are no longer asked to register students for classes, do graduation checks, etc. This has had a positive impact on recruitment and retention. The faculty role has shifted to mentoring.
As Fundraiser:
As Communicator:
- Furthering the importance of a liberal arts education through public outreach, an education that emphasizes critical thinking, a broad view of the world, and the connections among different disciplines. I also testified before a congressional subcommittee on the importance of supporting a liberal arts education.
- Fostering the need for promoting the value of a liberal arts education through the Council of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) of which I was Chair of the Committee on Liberal Arts Institutions.
- Active participant, through the International Council of Fine Arts Deans (ICFAD), in discussions aimed at promoting the value of degrees in the visual and performing arts and diversity in academia.
- Developed a number of outreach initiatives including books, weekly newspaper columns, weekly radio shows, TV series, and documentaries, as well as social media venues (including apps) and campus wide arts festivals including flash mobs. These initiatives are aimed at increasing the visibility of the College while recruiting more excellent faculty, staff, and students and for fundraising purposes.
As Innovator:
- Founded and currently direct the Cuban and Caribbean Center (CCC) existing to promote faculty and student exchanges between the U.S. and countries in the Caribbean region, particularly Cuba. As part of this endeavor, I led the efforts in order to sign a cooperative agreement between the Southern Illinois University system and the Universidad de La Habana. I have also led the efforts that resulted in taking SIUE students to perform in Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago as well to bringing Cuban artists and art to the U.S. in conjunction (in part) with the Museum of Fine Arts of Havana.
- Introduced the use of 3-D technology in the classroom.
- Developed the Interdisciplinary Roundtables aimed at increasing the scholarly and pedagogical initiatives for faculty members across disciplines. A significant accomplishment by one of these roundtable groups was the designation of an on-campus 380-acre SIUE Nature Preserve.
- Created the Visiting Scholar Initiative so departments can utilize visiting faculty for teaching and academic purposes.
- Continued supporting the Faculty Development Initiative aimed at providing faculty members with course releases to enhance their productivity in scholarly and pedagogical enterprises.
- Supported the development/improvement of websites.
- Founded the journal Polymath, an electronic, open-access, peer-review journal that is interdisciplinary in nature.
- Expanded the number of international artists and scholars brought to campus through regular events such as Arts & Issues and the annual Colloquium under the umbrella title “Thinking about…”.
- Developed programs to attract and retain students, faculty, and staff of ethnic groups traditionally underrepresented in academia.
- Developed the annual Art-A-Thon festival on campus aimed at promoting the arts and literature not only on campus but also in the surrounding community.
- Launched a program designed to recognize, honor, and develop some of the star student achievers of our College. Through this program, called STELLAR (STudent ExceLLence & Achievement Recognition), students who are identified by their departments, as outstanding representatives of their discipline receive special recognition and support from the College to help them achieve their full potential in their academic program and beyond.
- Developed the idea of an interdisciplinary degree of entrepreneurship for the arts in conjunction with the School of Business.
- Under my leadership The Interdisciplinary Research and Informatics Scholarship (IRIS) Center, was established. This is an active interdisciplinary facility supporting individual and collaborative scholarship, a field that is receiving much attention both nationally and internationally, and supports the College’s—and SIUE’s—mission, vision, values, and long-term goals.
- Supported the university library by donating a collection of about 50,000 documents (including printed, video and audio material) concerning scholarly areas such as speleology and marine mammalogy among others.
Here is a video summarizes these accomplishments.
Responsibilities and Accomplishments
As Administrator:
- Responsible for 24 tenured/tenured-track faculty members, 4 full-time instructors, 2 full-time staff, 550 undergraduate students and 69 graduate students.
- Responsible for B.S., M.S., M.A. degrees as well as Ph.D. degrees in associated programs of Environmental Sciences and Molecular Biosciences.
- Responsible for undergraduate tracks in diverse areas including, but not limited to, Wildlife Management and Environmental Biology.
- Overseeing an operating budget of approximately $2 million per year, plus external research grants and contracts totaling approximately $16 million in annual expenditures.
- Strategic planning.
- I created the appropriate environment in which there was an increase in number of scholarly publications by more than 600% and the amount of grant money received by nearly 600%.
- Establishment of a field biological station.
- Establishment of a study-abroad program in Belize.
As Communicator:
- Developing numerous outreach programs such as the publication of the book Adventures in the Wild: Tales from Biologists from The Natural State published by Arkansas University Press, which presents the field and lab experiences of the Biology faculty at ASU. I contributed two chapters to that book.
- I edited and also wrote many articles for the weekly science column in The Jonesboro Sun. I produced and directed the nationally syndicated weekly radio show “Science in the Natural State” aired by KASU –a NPR affiliate- as well as several TV documentaries.
- I co-developed the “Science Flicks” series projecting science-based movies followed by a discussion with a panel of experts from both across campus and even external guests and later became a course.
- I co-organized with the Department of Chemistry and Physics the monthly events for the 2009 “Year of Science.”
As Fundraiser:
- Fundraising for improving the infrastructure of several of teaching labs and outreach initiatives such as “The Hall of Science” and an ecological garden.
As Innovator:
- I was the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Integrative Biosciences, a peer-reviewed, open access electronic journal published by Arkansas State University.
- I led the initiative of having ASU to sign the Talloires Declaration aimed at increasing the environmental sustainability on campus.
- I created and led initiatives such as the Interdisciplinary Roundtables in which faculty members from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities met to discuss current academic issues.
- I also led the initiative of creating a departmental library with thousands of holdings in books, journals, reprints and audiovisual materials.
- Developed a web site in six different languages and I produced a recruitment poster in Spanish. As a result of that, the international student population increased significantly.
- I created and taught new courses such as Marine Mammalogy, Laboratory of Marine Mammalogy, Field Course in Marine Mammalogy, Biospeleology. Science Communication for Scientists, Science in the Cinema, History of Biological Ideas and History and Philosophy of Science.
- I donated to the Dean B. Ellis Library of Arkansas State a 16,000-document collection on environmental issues in Latin America. This is a unique set of publications that provides researchers around the world with exceptional and extremely difficult to find materials about the state of the environment south to the U.S. border.
Responsibilities and Accomplishments
As Administrator:
- I was responsible of an interdisciplinary program that integrated faculty and students across several disciplines and departments around an environmental curriculum.
- Strategic planning.
- Fundraising for specific projects.
- Participation in diversity initiatives.
- I was the Director of the College’s Ordway Natural History Study Area, a nature preserve and a field station.
- Supervised an annual environmental audit of the campus as the co-chair of the Campus Environmental Issues Committee.
- I encouraged inter-departmental cooperation and participation and a maximization of campus resources, both human and material.
As Innovator:
- Developed new courses in the environmental studies area not only strongly interdisciplinary but also innovative in nature and approaches.
- I recruited, mentored, and promoted students, faculty, and staff of ethnic groups that have been traditionally underrepresented in the natural/environmental sciences.
- Stressed initiatives involving undergraduate students in faculty scholarly activities.
- Emphasized interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and research.
- Promoted environmental literacy among students, faculty, and staff.
- Prepared students for a wide variety of career options.
- Developed a very active outreach program by offering public lectures and lecture series, seminars, workshops, and conferences called EnviroThursdays.
- I founded and was the first Editor-In-Chief of the Macalester Environmental Review, a peer-reviewed, open-access electronic journal.
- Produced an annual report on the nature and development of environmental academic programs in U.S. institutions of higher education that was widely disseminated.
- Developed partnerships with other institutions and organizations.
- I led the initiative of having Macalester College to sign the Talloires Declaration aimed at increasing the environmental sustainability on campus.
- I created and taught new courses such as Environmental Analysis and Problem Solving (undergraduate, seminar). Environmental Issues in Latin America and the Caribbean (undergraduate, graduate, seminar), Environmental Science (lecture), Biology of Marine Mammals, Laboratory of Marine Mammalogy, Marine Biology, and Field Studies in Marine Biology.
1996-1998: Assistant Professor of Biology, Florida Atlantic University, Davie, FL.
1994-1996: Instructor, Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, FL.
1994-1996: Adjunct (Research) Associate Professor, University of Miami, FL.
1987-1994: Adjunct Associate Professor of Biology, Universidad Central de Venezuela,Caracas, Venezuela.
1986-1994: Executive Director and CEO, BIOMA, The Venezuelan Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity, Caracas, Venezuela.
1985-1986: Country Program Director, The Nature Conservancy, Washington, D.C.
1978-1979: Assistant Professor, Universidad Nacional Experimental Francisco de Miranda, Coro, Venezuela.
1972-1976: Coordinator of the Hydrozoology Lab, Museo de Zoología (today Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona, Spain.
1970-1970: Laboratory Assistant, Instituto Oceanográfico de la Universidad de Oriente, Cumaná, Venezuela.
