Edward Bogucz Jr. feels a special kinship with the students of Paterson, N.J.
Bogucz, Douglas Danforth Dean of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) at Syracuse University, was born in Paterson and graduated from nearby Wayne Valley High School. His parents, Helen and the late Edward Bogucz Sr., both were raised there and graduated from Paterson high schools (Helen from Central High School, now known as John F. Kennedy High School; Edward Sr. from Eastside High School). That special family connection is among the reasons that Bogucz has been so committed to developing and maintaining a strong partnership between the college and Paterson's Operation Link-Up (OLU).
OLU provides support, direction and educational assistance to Paterson's high school students. The main focus of OLU is its College Program, which introduces inner-city minority students to colleges and universities, helps them complete admissions forms and obtain financial aid, and monitors their academic progress from ninth grade through college. Before OLU was founded, only one student from the Paterson school district had ever been admitted to Syracuse University. Since then, 37 OLU students have enrolled at the University and 28 have graduated, including Antoine Charles, who graduated with his bachelor's degree in computer engineering from ECS in May.
In recognition of his deep commitment to the program, Bogucz will be honored by OLU Nov. 14 during a program that begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Park Ridge Marriott in Park Ridge, N.J. He is the only individual being honored; corporate honorees include BMW North America, Fleet Boston Financial and the United Way.
"Dean Bogucz is an invaluable member of the Operation Link-Up team," says Carey Jenkins, OLU's executive director. "We get a lot of promises and praises, but we need people who will actually put their support behind the verbage. Dean Bogucz has done that from day one, and we know that he will continue to do that."
For the past four years, OLU has teamed up with SU's Summer College, a program that offers high school students an opportunity to select courses in a number of areas, augmented with seminars, field trips and special evening and weekend activities. This past summer, six students from Paterson were exposed to engineering, computer science and to Syracuse University during the six-week program.
"Alma mater is Latin for 'nurturing mother,'" Bogucz says. "Both of my parents are children of Paterson city schools, the same as students today who are part of Operation Link-Up. So I view the Operation Link-Up students as my aunts and uncles."
"On a personal level, the partnership with Operation Link Up has been one of the most enjoyable and deeply satisfying elements of my being dean over the past seven years," says Bogucz.
Paterson, Bogucz says, is in essence a "sister city" to Syracuse; both cities have been important in the history of both the Northeast and the country, and Paterson shares many of the same challenges that Syracuse does. The relationship that the college has cultivated with the Paterson School District has been beneficial to the college's relationship with the Syracuse City School District, Bogucz says.
Bogucz has been dean of ECS since 1995. In 1996, he developed a strategic plan for the college that focuses on preparing leaders for a high technology, knowledge-based global community. Three signature areas that involve multiple disciplines across the college and University are computing, communications and information systems; environmental quality systems, including monitoring and control of indoor environments and urban ecosystems; and biomedical systems. In addition, the ECS plan includes initiatives to increase the racial, ethnic and gender diversity of the population of engineering and computer science students at SU and nationally.
In June, New York Gov. George E. Pataki awarded $37 million in state funding to a consortium led by Syracuse University to help create the Center of Excellence in Environmental Systems (CoE-ES). Bogucz has oversight of the center's academic and research programs.
Bogucz received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University, a master's degree in heat transfer engineering from the University of London/Imperial College and a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University. As a faculty member in the college (1985-95), he was honored by numerous student groups with awards for teaching excellence and was very active in supervising undergraduates in research experiences.
