Professor David Allstot, who has been serving the department as Acting Chair, has been named as our new Chair effective May 1. Acting CoE Dean Mani Soma gives us the great news:
"hello our dear friends in ee,
"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Professor David J. Allstot as Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering. The appointment is effective May 1, 2005 and is for a period of 5 years. David enjoys a strong reputation in the department for his integrity and focus on excellence in education, research, and service. He has survived the very difficult role of Acting Chair, and looks forward, with renewed energy and initiative, to working with students, staff, and faculty to strengthen the department programs and operations.
"David is aware that no person is perfect, and he has asked me to meet with him and various constituencies in the department to discuss ideas on how we can create teams to work with him. I have agreed to meet with faculty (in one meeting or in several meetings), staff (in one or several meetings), and students (again in one or several meetings) as part of my commitment to support David in his new responsibility and to move the department to the next level. David is also totally committed to this responsibility and has agreed, for example, to focus on departmental leadership and administration as his highest priority, with reduced time spent on his own research programs.
"While we celebrate David's new role, I would also like to celebrate Les Atlas's outstanding candidacy. Les brought forth many key issues that we need to work on and has graciously agreed, like all of you in my various conversations, to support David in strengthening the department. Les, like many of our faculty, is poised for major leadership roles and it is our collective responsibility, fully shared and enthusiastically endorsed by David, to help develop our own leaders from the faculty, staff, and student ranks. I am extremely pleased to see that in this search, our internal candidates compete quite well with national candidates, a sign that bodes well for our future.
"The long search has ended but the journey has just begun. I look forward to joining hands with you and with David in this exciting march to a bright future for the department and for all of us.
"Cheers and congratulations to David and to the entire department."
Mani Soma
Acting Dean