Luis Mariano Proenza (born December 22, 1944) is an American academic, and the former president of The University of Akron. He was a previous member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership 2.0 (AMP2.0). ^[1]

Early life and education

Proenza was born on December 22, 1944, in Mexico City, Mexico. He is the son of Luis Proenza Abreu and Sara Gonzalez de Proenza. for much of his childhood, his parents owned a jewelry business at the Mexico City Airport, which later grew to include another location in Acapulco, which they later sold to focus on the original location. His mother later co-founded an orphanage in Cuernavaca, Mexico, "Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos," and one in Acapulco as well. Proenza attended primary school in Mexico, where he was taught English from an early age.^[1]

At age 11, Proenza relocated to the United States and attended the Riverside Military Academy in Gainesville, Georgia. There, he was an active member of the Junior ROTC and, in his final year, he was promoted to commanding cadet colonel. The summer after his graduation from Riverside (1962), Proenza started at Emory University where he pursued a major in Psychology under the mentorship of Dr. Bonnie R. Strickland, an eventual professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and President of the American Psychology Association. ^[1]

Proenza's mentor later recommended him to Ohio State University's clinical psychology program, which he attended after he graduated from Emory in 1965. After a hasty finish of his Master's program there, he worked at the University of Connecticut for a year before returning to Mexico where he taught at the University of the Americas for a year and a half where he met Dr. Starke R. Hathaway, a physiological psychologist, who invited him to the University of Minnesota to pursue a PhD in Psychology. He returned to the United States in 1971 where he focused his studies on visual sensitivity as measured neurophysiological responses. ^[1]

Career

Proenza was president of The University of Akron from 1999 until 2014. In 2014, he was awarded the H. Peter Burg Economic Leadership Award by the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce for his accomplishments as president, which included expanding the University's footprint into downtown and the completion of 21 new facilities, 18 renovations/additions, and 34 acres of green space.^[2][3] Proenza took a sabbatical leave from the university from 2014 to 2016. He returned as a full-time tenured professor in the Office of Academic Affairs in 2016.

Proenza was on the United States President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology under the George W. Bush administration to enable the office of the president to receive advice from the private and academic sectors on technology, scientific research priorities, and math and science education. In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed Proenza and 18 others to the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership Steering Committee 2.0, created to help strengthen the U.S. advanced manufacturing sector.^[4]

References

External links

• The University of Akron official biography