College of Engineering Dean Wayne Davis has been elected to serve as secretary and treasurer of the Global Engineering Deans Council.
The council brings together engineering deans from around the world and now includes more than 500 deans, representing colleges of engineering in more than thirty countries.
“It is certainly an honor, both personally and professionally, to have been elected by my peers to this position,” said Davis. “I look forward to representing UT, our college, and this profession to the best of my abilities.”
Davis will work with an executive council that includes deans from Texas A&M and Illinois Institute of Technology in the United States, as well as deans from Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, and Uganda.
In addition to the international group, there are five regional chapters and twelve corporate and other partners.
GEDC was founded at a 2008 conference in Paris with just twenty members. That group issued what was called the “Paris declaration,” recognizing the role engineering can play in meeting future societal challenges, including food and water safety and availability, healthcare, energy, security, the environment, and quality of life.
Through the statement, the group pledged to bring together science, industry, and educators to:
- Provide a worldwide forum for exchange of information and discussion of experiences, challenges, and best practices in leading an engineering school;
- Provide a means for engineering deans to partner with one another in curriculum development and innovation and to collaborate with industry, government, and other stakeholders;
- Build a network that would support engineering deans to play a leadership role in developing regional and national policies to advance economies; and
- Participate in the development and maintenance of a global system of quality standards for engineering education.
Davis will travel to Adelaide, Australia, in December to help shape the group’s vision for the next two years.
“There are challenges to be faced within engineering that also have global implications,” said Davis. “We’re in a unique position to try to tackle some of those problems before they develop, to try to work on those challenges before they become critical.”
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CONTACT:
David Goddard (865-974-0683, david.goddard@utk.edu)