CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Ilesanmi Adesida has been named interim-dean designate of the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pending approval of the U. of I. board of trustees.
David Daniel, the dean of the college, will remain in his position through May, before assuming his new duties as the president of the University of Texas at Dallas. Adesida, a Willett Professor of Engineering, would then formally assume the interim-dean position.
Daniel and Adesida will work together in the interim to assure an orderly transition.
“Professor Adesida brings a record of outstanding scientific and engineering accomplishment, administrative experience and understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing the college, a great capacity for working effectively with colleagues, and a genuine enthusiasm for engaging with us all in assuring that the college moves vigorously forward in the months ahead,” said Richard Herman, the interim chancellor of the Urbana campus. “He has our full confidence, and we are delighted that he has agreed to take on this critical leadership position.”
Adesida, the director of the Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, has been at Illinois since 1987. He is a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. He also is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and of the American Vacuum Society. He is the current president-elect of the IEEE.
A committee is being formed and will be announced shortly to conduct a national search for new permanent leadership of the college, Acting Provost Jesse Delia said.
