As the spring semester comes to an end, we take the time to acknowledge the contributions and commitment of our colleagues who are retiring. They will all be dearly missed and we wish them the best. Their names are presented in order of years of service to the university.
Dennis Rhoads joined Monmouth University as an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Biology in 1995. He was promoted to Professor in 2009.
He served as Chair of the Biology Department for 15 consecutive years and Chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee for 7 years. Dennis was active in transforming the curriculum in the Department of Biology, playing a leading role in establishing the Marine and Environmental Biology and Policy major and introducing the Molecular Cell Physiology concentration to the Biology major.
Dr. Rhoads excelled in scholarship and mentoring of undergraduate research students, having over 65 students working in the laboratory, winning numerous external awards for their presentations, and having 24 students as co-authors on peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Rhoads transformed research in the Biology Department by mentoring faculty to receive the first two major grants from the National Institutes of Health, establishing the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and representing Monmouth University at the New Jersey Marine Science Consortium for 9 years.
Daniela Rosca joined the Monmouth University faculty in 1998 as an Assistant Professor, later earning tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2004. During her time here she has served as Department Chair (2018 – 2024) and was actively involved in supervising Masters theses and undergraduate practicum projects, many of which have earned awards of excellence. Rosca published nearly 40 papers in prominent international and national journals and conferences. She received the Best Paper Award at the 2016 International Conference in Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE 2016) and the Best Paper Award at the same conference in 2001.
In addition, Dr. Rosca has led two major curriculum restructurings for both the Computer Science and the Software Engineering accredited programs, and led the preparation of the successful ABET re-accreditation visits for the BSSE and BSCS Programs in 2022-2023.
Biyue (Betty) Liu joined the Monmouth University faculty as an Associate Professor of
Mathematics in 2000, received tenure in 2004 and was promoted to full Professor in 2007. Dr. Liu is an internationally recognized scholar with expertise in numerical
solutions of partial differential equations and has developed mathematical models to simulate and study the blood flows in human arteries with stenosis, publishing over 40 journal articles, and received grants from the National Science Foundation, the Association for Women in Mathematics, and the Simons Foundation.
Dr. Liu has provided exemplary service to her department, school, and university, serving as co-chair of the Mathematics Department, a Peer Observer, as well as Faculty Council, the School Personnel Committee, the University Qualifications Committee and the General Education Oversight Committee.
William Schreiber jointed the Monmouth University faculty as a Lecturer in 2006 after nearly 30 years as an industrial chemist. Dr. Schreiber served as Department Chair from January 2014 through June 2022 led two American Chemical Society recertification reports and helped to introduce many new courses for non-science majors, among them Climate Science, Science of Food and Cooking, Forensic Science, Geology, Drug Discovery and Medicinal Chemistry for majors. Dr. Schreiber has excelled in his service as chair of the Undergraduate Studies Committee and most recently representing the School of Science on Faculty Council, serving as Governance Secretary and on its Executive Committee for the last two years.
Gil Eckert joined the Monmouth University faculty as an Instructor in 2014 and later became a Specialist Professor in 2017. Gil was actively involved in curriculum development and assessment. Gil is most noted for his work with students, mentoring several Summer Research Projects and creating several introductory courses in Computer Science and Problem Solving.
