She fills the position to be vacated by Laurence Caretto at the end of the month. Caretto will continue to teach at the university and be actively involved with the Engineering Department.

"I've worked with Diane on many occasions," said Philip Handler, vice provost for academic affairs. "I'm pleased with her appointment, and I'm confident that she will do an excellent job as interim dean."

In the job as interim dean, Schwartz hopes to provide a supportive environment for teaching and scholarship while making sure that college resources are properly used. At the same time, she will be making plans for the college's future and developing external relations.

"I look forward to doing what I can to make sure our college continues to deliver a high quality education for our students," Schwartz said.

Among the things Schwartz has on her agenda are accreditation reviews in the fall for several engineering programs, the implementation of focus group recommendations made last year, and the improvement of student enrollment.

Schwartz has been a computer science professor at CSUN since 1980. From 1986 through 1989, she was associate dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science. From 1992 until 1994, she served as interim dean of the college for the first time.

From 1994 until 1999, Schwartz was chair of the Computer Science Department.

In addition, she has been serving as faculty president, a position she has held since June 2000. She resigned that job to make time for her new duties as interim dean.

"Her appointment is a loss for the faculty senate, but it's a great gain for the College of Engineering and Computer Science," said Handler.

Schwartz has a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's and doctorate in mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

She has taught courses in algorithms, programming languages and software engineering at CSUN.

The nationwide search for a permanent dean of the college is expected to be concluded by the end of the fall semester.

California State University, Northridge has more than 29,000 full- and part-time students and offers 63 bachelor's and 51 master's degrees. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the third largest in the 23-campus CSU system.

CSUN's College of Engineering and Computer Science is nationally recognized. A recent National Science Foundation survey of 529 universities ranked CSUN among the top 12 in the number of graduates who go on to earn doctorates in the computer sciences and engineering. It also ranked 14th in the nation in the number of bachelor degrees awarded to Hispanic students, qualifying the campus to be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic Serving Institution.