Loyola Marymount Names First Woman Dean of the College of Science and Engineering

A chemistry professor was named the 11th dean of the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering at Loyola Marymount University, and is the first woman to hold the post, it was announced today.

S. W. Tina Choe, who joined LMU in 1995, has served as the college’s interim dean since July.

“We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Tina Choe’s skill and dedication as our new dean of the Seaver College of Science and Engineering,” said LMU President David W. Burcham. “She understands our university and is committed to serving students and faculty while furthering our Jesuit and Marymount traditions and our standards of academic excellence.”

Prior to her appointment as interim dean, Choe was associate dean for Undergraduate Studies from 2012-14 and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry from 2008-12.

For the past seven years, she also served as chair of the Life Sciences building project. The state-of-art facility is scheduled to open this summer.

“Dr. Choe brings both vision and a clear sense of how to move vision to reality,” said Joseph Hellige, executive vice president and provost of LMU.

“As interim dean during the last eight months, she has already worked with her colleagues to create and support the kind of innovative opportunities for student-faculty research that will place the college at the forefront of STEM education,” he said, referring to a curriculum focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Choe, who earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a doctorate in organic chemistry from UCLA, succeeds Richard Plumb. He is now executive vice president and provost of St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota.

LMU is the largest Jesuit Catholic university for undergraduates on the West Coast, with more than 6,000 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate and law students.

• City News Service
• Photo: S. W. Tina Choe, courtesy of Loyola Marymount University
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