Herbert A. Medina has been appointed as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, effective July 1, 2018. Medina, who will join the University in mid-July, will oversee the College’s core curriculum education program in the liberal arts for all students at the University, as well as 15 departments offering 28 majors and 25 minors.
Medina was born in El Salvador and was brought by his parents to Los Angeles, California, where he has lived most of his life. Prior to his appointment at the University of Portland, he served since 2015 as associate dean for faculty/staff development and student success at the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering at Loyola Marymount University.
He earned his B.S. in mathematics and computer science from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1985. In 1987, he earned an M.A. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, then completed his Ph.D., also at UC Berkeley, in 1992. He is a member of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). Medina has published mathematical research in functional analysis, wavelets, and polynomial approximations (collaboratively with undergraduates). He also has written articles and delivered several professional presentations addressing issues of under-representation in mathematics and other challenges facing the U.S. mathematics community.
Medina follows former dean Michael Andrews, who departed in 2017 to become director of the John Felice Rome Center, a campus of Loyola University Chicago located in Rome, Italy. Gary Malecha, political science, has served as the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences since July 1, 2017.