Wayne Pennington has been named dean of the College of Engineering at Michigan Technological University, effective April 27, Provost Max Seel has announced.
“I am pleased to have Wayne serving in this position, and I look forward to working with him,” said Seel. “Under his leadership, the College of Engineering will move forward with the strategic plan, toward our goal of national prominence among the nation’s top public engineering schools.”
“Being at Michigan Tech for the past twenty years has been a wonderful experience, and I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues within the College of Engineering, as well as with the other deans and senior administrators throughout the University,” Pennington said. “Together, we can continue to ensure that Michigan Tech provides an excellent education to tomorrow’s leaders while continuing to advance knowledge through research.”
Pennington has been a professor of geophysical engineering at Michigan Tech since 1994 and became chair of the Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences in 2003. He served as chair until May 2013 when he was named interim dean of engineering. Prior to coming to the University, he worked with Marathon Oil and was an assistant professor at University of Texas at Austin.
He has held numerous other positions during his career, most recently as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the US Department of State and USAID (Agency for International Development) and as president of the American Geosciences Institute. He was president of the American Geophysical Union Board of Heads and Chairs of earth and space science departments and was first vice president of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists.
Pennington received degrees in geophysics and geology from Princeton University (BA), Cornell University (MS) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (PhD).