(Edmonton) Roger Cheng has been chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering since 2002 and in recognition of the impact he has had on education, research, and industry, has been awarded the APEGA Centennial Leadership Award.
The award, the highest honour APEGA bestows upon its members, recognizes Cheng's exemplary work in advancing research and teaching.
The department has seen incredible advances under Cheng's leadership. Under Cheng's tenure the department has doubled its graduate student population to about 500 (the largest group in the entire university); there are approximately 1,000 undergraduates in the department. During this period, undergraduate student numbers have risen to about 1,000, the number of NSERC Industrial Research Chairs has grown to eight from one, and tri-council funding increased to $6.2 million from $2 million. The number of faculty has grown by 56 per cent.
As department chair Cheng has played a key role in establishing large research projects, including eight IRCs, five endowed research chairs, multiple professorships and fellowships, eight centres for research, and two engineering schools: the Hole School of Construction Engineering and the Nasseri School of Building Science and Engineering.
When Cheng was appointed chair, he worked with his colleagues to draft a strategic plan looking not at individual units but the department as a whole. It wasn't the most popular approach but the results suggest it was the right tactic.
Cheng says the best way to succeed as chair is simple: you put the interests of the department as a whole first. The job is about service to the department.
"The reason you are in this position," he said, "is not to get something out of it personally-it's for the good of the department. The success of the department is my success and expecting personal recognition just complicates things. It makes my job easier if I just focus on the things we're supposed to do-it helps me feel comfortable with my decisions."
Cheng says one of the reasons the department has been successful is that as chair, he has had the support of the dean. Most of Cheng's tenure as chair, of course, was under Dean Emeritus David Lynch.
"He was my biggest supporter," said Cheng. "He never said a single "no" to me."
And however humble Cheng is about being presented with this award, he's equally appreciative of colleagues who nominated him. He know recognition is fleeting.
Cheng observes that two-thirds of the department's faculty members have been hired in the past decade. "That's the future of this department," he said. "If in 20 years the department is still doing really well, no one will say it was because of Roger, but if it's doing poorly, it'll be my fault."