An engineering dean from San Jose State University will be the next University of Toledo provost.

UT announced today it selected Andrew Hsu, a professor of mechanical engineering and dean of Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering at San Jose since 2013, to be the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

He will start at UT on July 1, pending approval from the university’s board of trustees, and receive an annual salary of $337,500.

The provost post, typically the No. 2 spot at a university, is the highest-profile hire made so far under President Sharon Gaber, who assumed office last July and has been revamping the university’s top administrative team.

Mr. Hsu will replace interim Provost John Barrett, an associate professor in the law college who has held the office since July, 2014. Mr. Barrett’s salary as provost is $310,000.

Mr. Hsu was one of four finalists who visited campus after a national search.

The job piqued his interest because UT is a comprehensive public university where he said he can make an impact on a larger scale to help students.

“I have been passionate about students who are either first-generation or from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds or who have not had a good opportunity for a secondary education,” he said, during a telephone interview today from California.

Born in Beijing, Mr. Hsu, 59, completed undergraduate and master’s degrees in hydraulic engineering at institutions in China. He received another master’s degree and a doctorate in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Ms. Gaber praised his experience, knowledge, and willingness to listen.

“He’s committed to working on improving graduation rates and retention and enrollment, and we want to strengthen all of the academic programs,” she said.

No stranger to Ohio, Mr. Hsu worked from 1987 to 1995 as a senior research engineer and then as a supervisor for a contractor at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Later in his career, he returned for a one-year fellowship from 2008-2009 at Ohio State University, where he worked in the office of the president.

His last Ohio stint took place just before he moved to San Jose. From 2010 to 2013, he served as the associate vice president for research and graduate school dean at Wright State University in Dayton.

At San Jose, Mr. Hsu touted his record of growing the engineering school enrollment, launching summer bridge and freshman cohort programs to improve student retention, and increasing faculty research by offering financial incentives as well as recognition and adjusting workloads.

Enrollment, retention, and research are three key areas Dr. Gaber has pledged to improve at UT.

Mr. Hsu acknowledged that Toledo’s midwestern location differs from Silicon Valley, a tech-savvy destination where San Jose State benefits from a close association. Still, he thinks Toledo can successfully recruit and retain students and grow research.

“I think it’s important for a university like the University of Toledo to embrace its own culture, its own physical surroundings, its diversity,” he said.

That work starts by partnering with faculty and students and making sure that all share a common mission, he said.

Once at UT, he will focus first on meeting faculty and developing a strategic plan to address UT’s enrollment, retention, research, diversity and inclusion efforts, and financial stability, he said.

Under his leadership, the university will shift its reporting structure so that budgeting for academic areas will fall under the provost’s job description instead of the finance and administrative department. That means UT’s college deans will work with Mr. Hsu to develop their budgets, and he’ll be responsible for cutting or increasing specific budgets as needed.

The change allows the provost “to have the power of the purse,” Ms. Gaber said, who had similar duties in her previous role as University of Arkansas provost.

UT is battling budget challenges, and Ms. Gaber has ordered a 1.5 percent cut from the operating budget this fiscal year and a 3 percent reduction from the entire budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Though Mr. Hsu came up through academia’s science side, his UT role will require championing all disciplines and UT’s many distinct colleges. Mr. Hsu said he embraces a well-rounded liberal arts education that includes arts and humanities.

“It is not only important to society, but also it’s important to educate the whole student, the whole person,” he said.

The university is still in the process of searching for a chief financial officer and an enrollment administrator.

Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.

First Published March 17, 2016, 5:00 p.m.