Three engineering dean candidates invited to campus

LAWRENCE — Three candidates for dean of the University of Kansas School of Engineering will take part in on-campus interviews in the weeks ahead. Members of the KU community are invited to attend public presentations during each candidate’s on-campus interview and provide feedback to the search committee.

“The committee was impressed with the quality of the applicant pool and these three candidates in particular,” said Ken Audus, dean of the School of Pharmacy and chair of the search committee. “We’re excited to learn more about their vision for the School of Engineering and hear from students, faculty and staff at KU what they think are the strengths each candidate could bring to the position.”

The name of each candidate will be announced roughly a day before their respective campus visit. Public presentations for each of the candidates:

• Candidate 1, 8:30-9:30 a.m. Nov. 9, 164 Ritchie Hall
• Candidate 2, 8:30-9:30 a.m. Nov. 15, Spahr Engineering Classroom, Eaton Hall, Room 2
• Candidate 3, 8:30-9:30 a.m. Nov. 30, 164 Ritchie Hall

Candidates will present their ideas on factors they consider critical to the future success of the School of Engineering and how they, as dean, would leverage strengths and remove impediments to increase the school’s impact. The presentations will be recorded and available for viewing online after the final candidate has appeared on campus. Members of the campus community will have until Dec. 4 to provide their impressions and observations of each candidate online.

The dean of the School of Engineering oversees KU’s second-largest academic unit on the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, with more than 3,000 students. The school has dramatically expanded its facilities since 2012, adding five new buildings and 325,000 square feet of world-class research labs, state-of-the-art classrooms and enhanced collaboration spaces. In the past six years, the school has seen a 29 percent increase in bachelor’s degrees awarded and 15 percent increase in graduate degrees awarded. The school has the highest percentage of women engineering students and the highest percentage of women earning degrees of any engineering program in Kansas. 

Faculty in the school lead and contribute to a number of research endeavors; chief among them:

• Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis (Graduated NSF ERC)
• Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (NSF STC)
• Institute for Bioengineering Research
• Information and Telecommunication Technology Center (National Center for Academic Excellence in Information Assurance/Cyber Defense and NSF Scholarship for Service in Cybersecurity)
• NSA Science of Security Lablet

More information about the school and the search committee can be found online.