At the University of Washington, the search for a new dean of the College of Engineering is underway. In the latest discussions, two major topics that were brought up included an increase in funding and higher acceptance rates for the college.
A new dean will be selected to head up the department beginning in winter quarter. A forum was held for the candidates to speak on why they should be chosen as the school’s new dean for the College of Engineering. Eliot McVeigh from John Hopkins University was the first candidate to speak. Marc Prolange is the second candidate from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne located in Switzerland. There he holds the title of dean and professor of the School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Both candidates spoke of their desire to open up the College of Engineering to more students. Prolange mentioned that the UW’s College of Engineering attracts some of the best students the world over, but the challenge has been being able to accept more students.
“The number of students applying is a very high number, but the number we admit is quite small… It’s clear that there is a need for more engineers in the state of Washington, and the fact is, you have qualified students from high schools in the state of Washington that can’t get into the university,” Prolange said.
An increase in funding must take place for Prolange’s plan to work, but he wants to avoid the burden of tuition differential as much as possible. In the forum he discussed an alternative plan for funding the College of Engineering, which involved working on building relationships with businesses and companies that wish to recruit and work with engineering students.
As dean another goal that Prolange has in mind in to build more engineering buildings on the west side of campus to increase faculty and resources for the College of Engineering. He believes this would ultimately lead to an increase of admitted undergraduates for the college.
Will Scott is an engineering graduate at the UW, and he believes Prolange’s plans would steer the College of Engineering in the right path. Although the forum did not provide all the information needed to determine the best candidate for the dean position, he felt that establishing connections with engineering industries would be a great benefit to the program.
“It is very promising… I think he understands the problems that the UW College of Engineering is facing,” said Scott of Prolange.