热爱学习和领导
Q&A和Dr. 卡洛斯·加西亚
Dr. 卡洛斯·加西亚, dean of the School of Mathematics, 科学与工程, has been at UIW for more than a decade. He started his career teaching ocular pharmacology, 但从那以后，他一直在做一名研究员和一所社区大学的校长.
Hear more about Garcia’s leadership style, projects he is currently working on, and his role with UIW’s Sustainability Advisory Board below.
问:谈谈你的学术和专业背景，以及这些经历如何影响了你的领导风格.
答:我最早的高等教育工作是在休斯顿地区的哈里斯县完成的. 我花了很多时间在休斯顿大学的视光学院, where I taught courses in ocular pharmacology. 我做了很多眼部调查. In fact, my early scientific work was strictly on the retina. Now it's evolved a little bit, but that's how I got started. 从那时起，当我还是一名教员时，我就过渡到了行政部门. I did some work as a department chair, 作为院长, 最后，我在科珀斯克里斯蒂的一所社区大学担任了几年校长. After that, I went to work for the Texas A&M大学制. 我被分配到德州A队&m . kingsville和Dotterweich工程学院的教员合作. While there, this job opened at UIW. So much of my early work was in research, and teaching courses. 我有博士学位.D. in biochemistry focused on neurotoxicology. 我在那个领域做研究工作，教课程，然后做行政工作.
多年来, I have learned the proper administrative role for us, 作为院长, is to take care of faculty and student needs. 我了解到，我成为高等教育管理人员的主要原因是确保教师拥有照顾学生所需的所有工具. 我在管理方面的主要目标是促进教师的成功, who then facilitate the success of students. 我认为，对我来说，成为一名服务型领导很重要，而且能够与教师和学生建立融洽的关系，这样他们就可以来找我说, ‘I would like to do this initiative.“我认为我的工作就是为他们找到所需的资源，让他们去做任何事情.
Q: You have been at UIW for more than a decade. What initially drew you to the 大学?
A: Prior to coming to UIW, I was at Texas A&M 大学-Kingsville, but living in Corpus Christi. My children have all gone through higher education Catholic schools. I have a son and a daughter who went to Loyola 
大学. 我最小的女儿在圣. 玛丽在圣安东尼奥，我们开始花更多的时间参观和了解这个地区. My wife and I had always thought that if we moved again, it would be to a community with more opportunities and 关闭r to family. 我们从休斯顿，一个非常大的城市，搬到了科珀斯克里斯蒂，一个小得多的城市. And then I was working in Kingsville, which is even smaller. 我最小的女儿经常去科珀斯克里斯蒂，与我和我的妻子共度时光. She always gently pushed me to come to San Antonio. 当你的女儿说‘爸爸，你应该考虑搬到圣安东尼奥去’时，我就来了. Moving to San Antonio was a very easy transition. What attracted me to the 大学 of the Incarnate Word, 具体地说, 我非常熟悉天主教的知识传统以及天主教的社会教育是关于什么的. I had lived it with my children. I was raised Catholic, so it was easy for me to look at UIW as an employer. My intent was to be here for probably three years. I thought I would see how it goes and then maybe move on. 但我爱上了这个地方，现在我已经在这里住了10多年了. 有一种非常微妙的灌输导致了对这个机构的喜爱, 教师, 还有工作人员. 我很喜欢这里的很多人，这让我多年来一直留在这里.
Q: As dean of the School of Mathematics, 科学与工程, 你有责任带领教师为多样化的学生群体提供最好的服务. How does that play out in your daily duties?
A: I spend a lot of time with 教师 and students. 事实上，我还在教书. 我教生物化学概论，通常在春季学期和夏季学期. It keeps me connected to students. I get a good sense of what's going on in the classroom. 我已经能够跟上我们必须要做的所有技术变革, especially through the COVID pandemic. Keeping up with technology has been good for me, 但有一个平台，能够与学生和教师在这个层面上联系是最重要的部分, because it's at the level where they are. 它在教室里. 它是倾听学生的心声，帮助他们学习一门很多人都觉得具有挑战性的学科. 生物化学不是一门你坐下来就能拿A的课. It takes a tremendous effort from the students. That has molded how I feel and what I think about when serving them, and those are things I may not see sitting in the dean’s office. 如果我在院长办公室，它可以有一些遮蔽，周围有围栏. Then there's this view that if you're going to see the dean, it’s because maybe something isn’t right. 我更愿意与老师和学生接触，与他们接触. 这帮助我了解了他们的需求，然后帮助他们满足这些需求.
Q: With an academic background as a scientist and a researcher, 你还会抽出时间去做那些能让你在那个领域保持活跃的项目吗?
A: I've mentored four graduate students at UIW since I've been here. I had a conversation recently with a Ph.D. 罗森博格视光学院的学生，他主动联系我，想谈谈项目, 我们就论文和一些研究工作的可能性进行了很好的讨论. That part has kept me balanced because while I’ve spent time in academia, in teaching and in administration, there's part of my life that still needed to be nurtured. That part was the science, doing basic scientific work. I've done a lot of work with animals. 我发表了关于臭氧对视觉系统的影响以及它如何影响视觉的文章. That's my latest line of research, 但我发表的论文都是关于臭氧对心脏的影响以及视网膜神经毒理学的早期研究. 所有这些都让我在智力上保持挑战和敏锐，并为我提供了一个很好的场所，让我跟上时代，跟上科学文献的步伐.
Q: You are a member of UIW’s Sustainability Advisory Board. How does this align with your personal and professional goals?
答:天主教高等教育最美妙的事情之一是我们继续保护地球母亲的愿望. 几年前，我们花了很多时间与全校教职工进行对话. It was initiated through 使命及事工, and we took a deep dive into Laudato si’, which is a call by Pope Francis to care for our common home. While spending a lot of time with Laudato si’, 它把我联系在一起, 在个人层面上, with the work that I was doing in sustainability. 当鲍勃·康诺利在这里的时候我开始研究校园可持续发展. 鲍勃是很多教职员工都记得的人，他认识多萝西·埃特林(Dorothy Ettling). Dorothy“Dot”Ettling, CCVI, Ettling公民领导与可持续发展中心创始人). Bob persuaded me to join the sustainability board, and I've been there the whole time that I've been at UIW. 它根植于我的内心，帮助我活得不仅仅是“说说而已”，而是活出社会正义和天主教的知识传统. It helped me look at the environment, 看看创造, 看看我们需要保护的一切，不要轻视环境. I've been a member of the sustainability group for many years. 我很自豪我们在校园里增加了社区花园，并帮助回收工作. Dr. Ben Miele has been wonderful as our leader in that group. 我们很兴奋，我们正在创造一个工程上的太阳能充电站，它将脱离电网, 我们将展示一个地方，学生们可以在那里插上他们的笔记本电脑, iphone, ipad等等, and it will all be powered by solar energy. 我们喜欢做所有那些让我们更有弹性和前瞻性的事情来保护地球和环境, which will help us all create a better future.