Vol. 16, No. 8 - A Publication For Faculty, Staff and Friends of Wichita State University - December 2, 1999 

[Inside]

By Joe Kleinsasser

The search is under way for a new College of Engineering dean. The goal is to have a new dean in place by July.

Earlier this year, longtime dean Bill Wilhelm announced that he would retire in June. Wilhelm has led the college since 1979.

Gerald "Skip" Loper, associate vice president for research, will chair the search committee.

Other committee members are Ramesh Agarwal, executive director, National Institute for Aviation Research; Jon Callen, president of Edmiston Oil; Jharna Chaudhuri, professor of mechanical engineering; Carrie Ekrut, engineering student; Ward Jewell, professor of electrical and computer engineering; Hamid Lankarani, associate professor of mechanical engineering; Abu Masud, chair and professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering; Scott Miller, associate professor of aerospace engineering; Janet Twomey, assistant professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering; and Robert Waner, director of engineering at Boeing-Wichita.

Ex-officio members are Betty Alford, office specialist in the College of Engineering; Joe Holt, president, Integra Technologies; Robert Umscheid of Raytheon and chair of the College of Engineering Dean’s Circle; and Velma Lunt Wallace, benefactor.

A deadline has not yet been set, but Loper says applications will likely be accepted until mid to late February. Applicants will be screened, and interviews will be conducted during March.

A decision on a new dean will likely be made in April.

Searches for both the engineering and business deans were in process before the hiring freeze was implemented in early November, so the searches are not affected.

A search committee for the dean of the W. Frank Barton School of Business is being confirmed. Gerald Graham, longtime faculty member and dean since 1993, is returning to full-time teaching in July.

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