UALR Chancellor Joel E. Anderson has announced the appointment of Zulma Toro-Ramos as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. Toro-Ramos, currently dean of the College of Engineering at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, will assume the new position on Jan. 7, 2013.

In addition to her dean position, Toro-Ramos has also served as director of the Center for Innovation and Enterprise Engagement, a center aimed at escalating the development and predominance of the south central Kansas manufacturing cluster in the global economy.

“Dr. Zulma Toro-Ramos brings to UALR an impressive portfolio of leadership skills and experiences that will serve this university very well. She enthusiastically embraces our student success goals, and her vision and values are a good match for UALR’s mission,” Anderson said. “She is well-prepared to lead our university’s academic division through the challenging times that lie ahead for higher education. Dr. Toro-Ramos has a strong record of engaging the community as well as state legislators to the benefit of her university and state.”

The UALR provost leads six colleges, Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Business; Education; Professional Studies, including the School of Mass Communication and the School of Social Work; Engineering and Information Technology; and Science – and two free-standing schools, the Graduate School and the Bowen School of Law.

Dr. Sandra Robertson, director of the UALR Office of Budget, Planning, and Institutional Research, has served as interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs since Dr. David Belcher left the position on June 30, 2011, to become chancellor of Western Carolina University.

“I am honored and excited with the opportunity to serve as provost and vice chancellor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock,” said Toro-Ramos. “I look forward to working with Chancellor Anderson and his leadership team, the faculty, students, and staff as we continue to take this wonderful institution to its next level of excellence.”

As dean of the College of Engineering at Wichita State, Toro-Ramos provided academic and administrative leadership for a college of 54 full-time faculty members and a student body of 1,500 undergraduates, 630 master’s degree students, and 100 Ph.D. students. Under her leadership, the college obtained an annual allocation of $4.5 million in state funding effective 2013 and was awarded $10.3 million in grants and contracts. She also fostered relationships with industry, government, and alumni for the college.

Toro-Ramos received a Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1988, a master’s degree in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan in 1983, and an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering from the University of Puerto Rico in 1982.

Prior to joining Wichita State in 2005, Toro-Ramos was dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of New Haven, Conn., from 2001 to 2005 and was chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez from 1999 to 2001.