Search Committee for Dean of the College of Engineering

As most of you learned during the past two weeks, Way Kuo, our current Dean of the College of Engineering, has decided to step down from his position at the Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee in order to become President of the City University of Hong Kong. Dean Kuo will be with us until May 9th. I want to congratulate Dean Kuo on this fine appointment and wish him well with this enormous opportunity. I also wish to thank him publicly for his outstanding leadership under sometimes difficult circumstances. Considering everything that he has contributed to the College of Engineering, and to the Knoxville campus, we will certainly miss him.

Once I received Dean Kuo’s letter of resignation, I contacted various members of the Knoxville campus to serve on a committee to find his replacement. The committee will be co-chaired by Brad Fenwick and Bamin Khomami and will include Bill Dunne, Itamar Elhanany, Charles Margrave, George Pharr, James Pippin, Hairong Qi, Larry Townsend, and Tom Urbanik. The committee will begin its work immediately. We are currently in the process of engaging a search firm to assist us with the process of building a candidate pool.

It is likely that we will need an interim arrangement for the College of Engineering for the period between Dean Kuo’s departure and the arrival of a new dean. The interim arrangement will be announced to the campus in March.

In the meantime should any faculty member have advice for the search committee, or wish to place in nomination a candidate for the position, I encourage you to contact one of the co-chairs.

Posted: February 21, 2007