Drexel University Names Dr. Stephen W. Director Provost.

PHILADELPHIA -- After a national search, Drexel University has appointed Dr. Stephen W. Director as provost, President Constantine Papadakis announced.

Director will join Drexel on July 1 from the University of Michigan, where he has been the Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering and professor of electrical engineering and computer science since 1996.

"Dr. Director is an outstanding scholar and one of the most successful academic managers in the United States, as evidenced by his record as dean of engineering at the University of Michigan and Carnegie Mellon University," Papadakis said. "His achievements in integrating technology and education make him a great addition to Drexel, and his experience and leadership will help us build on our significant growth in enrollment, academic offerings and research in the past 10 years."

"I am very much looking forward to becoming part of the Drexel community," Director said. "Drexel has made incredible strides over the last decade and is now poised to become a significant leader in research and education in a number of areas, including the health sciences. Drexel is well-known for its cooperative education program and academic innovations. I am particularly excited by the way Drexel has positioned itself as a force in the application of technology across a large number of disciplines."

A native of Long Island, Director received a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1965 and master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering in 1967 and 1968, respectively, from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, he held appointments at Carnegie Mellon University as the U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (1980-96), electrical and computer engineering department head (1982-91), university professor (1992-93) and dean of the College of Engineering (1991-96).

Regarded as a pioneer in the field of computer-aided design, Director has published more than 150 papers and authored or co-authored six texts. His research interests include design-process (work flow) management and statistical VLSI design. He has received numerous awards for his research and educational accomplishments, including the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Benjamin Garver Lamme Award, the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Education Medal in 1998 and Millennium Medal in 2000, and the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society Golden Jubilee Medal in 1999. He is a fellow of the IEEE and ASEE and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1989.

At Michigan, Director led an engineering college ranked among the nation's top 10 by U.S. News & World Report. During his nine-year tenure, the student population in the College of Engineering increased by 1,000 to 7,500 and the annual number of students graduated increased from 1,700 to more than 2,200. The entering fall 2004 class had a record enrollment of 1,300, with a median GPA of 3.9 and median SAT of 1330. The College secured its second National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center--the ERC for Wireless Integrated Microsystems--and the first and only NASA Bioscience and Engineering Institute. The College's annual operating budget grew from $186 million to $273 million, and its research portfolio increased by nearly 50 percent from just over $90 million annually to $135 million annually. All the College's undergraduate academic departments ranked by U.S. News moved into the top 10.

As Drexel's provost, Director is the chief academic officer and has responsibilities that include overseeing the faculty and curriculum in the University's eight colleges and three schools, including the College of Information Science and Technology, LeBow College of Business, College of Engineering and College of Nursing and Health Professions. The 20th-largest private university in America Drexel is home to the nation's largest private undergraduate engineering program and one of only two schools of public health in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Ali A. Houshmand has been Drexel's interim provost since December 2003. He will return to his previous position as dean of Drexel's Goodwin College of Professional Studies.

"I want to thank Dr. Houshmand for his outstanding service as interim provost. His stewardship was instrumental as our University successfully completed the first year of our new five-year strategic plan," Papadakis said.

Drexel is Philadelphia's technological university, ranked as one of the best national doctoral universities in the 2005 U.S. News & World Report listings, and enrolls more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students. A leader in curricular and technological innovation, Drexel in 1983 became the first university to require all students to have microcomputers. In 2000, Drexel became the first major university to operate a fully wireless campus indoors and outdoors. In 2002, the University launched Drexel One Mobile, the first wireless Web portal service for students.