The College announced yesterday that Elsa Garmire will become the first female dean in the history of the Thayer School of Engineering.
Garmire, who is currently the director of the University of Southern California's Center for Laser Studies, will become the 11th dean of the Thayer School, effective Sept. 1. She will replace interim dean Graham Wallis.
Garmire said she had not considered an administrative position until friends persuaded her to apply for the job.
During her first visit to the College, Garmire said she "fell in love" with the engineering program.
She said she was impressed with the College's interdisciplinary approach to engineering and the strong emphasis the College places on liberal arts for engineering undergraduates.
"The faculty and administration of Dartmouth have held out a remarkably warm hand to me," Garmire said. "They made me an offer I couldn't resist."
Garmire said her vision for the Thayer School includes "a rethinking of the graduate program and the research program" to increase their effectiveness.
In addition, Garmire said she plans to suggest the establishment of research centers that would "focus educational activities around the research program."
Garmire said she is one of the few female engineering school deans in the United States.
"As far as I know there is only one other female dean of engineering in the country," she said.
College Provost Lee Bollinger, who oversees the College's three professional schools, said Garmire is "an outstanding scholar of national and world class" and a professor "who is keenly interested in undergraduate and graduate education."
Bollinger said Garmire was the first choice of the search committee, which he said conducted "an international search" for candidates.
Garmire received an A.B. in physics from Harvard University in 1961 and a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965.
After an eight-year stint at the California Institute of Technology, Garmire joined the faculty at USC in 1974. She was appointed an electrical engineering professor in 1981, and became director of the Center for Laser Studies in 1984.
Charles Hutchinson served as dean of the Thayer School for 10 years before stepping down in June 1994 to rejoin the school's faculty.
