Feb 25, 2020
Dear colleagues,
Gregory Washington, Stacey Nicholas Dean of Engineering, Samueli School, has notified Chancellor Gillman and me that he has accepted a position as president of George Mason University, effective July 1. We will conduct a national search for a successor and discussions with the faculty will begin shortly. My office will initiate consultation with faculty and staff to appoint an interim dean during the transition period.
Since his arrival in 2011, Dean Washington has dedicated his expertise and leadership as a collaborative and solutions-oriented partner across the school, throughout the campus and in the community. During his time at UCI, he hired more than 60 new faculty, including the most diverse faculty cohort in the history of the School — 29 out of the 62 faculty members hired were women or underrepresented minorities.
He expanded undergraduate enrollment by 1,100 students and graduate enrollment by more than 200. He launched a freshman experiential learning initiative that has led to more than 60 percent of UCI undergraduate engineering students conducting research. He also helped create a new graduate program in Engineering Management in collaboration with the Paul Merage School of Business. He has been instrumental in the development of the upcoming Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building, which will provide a significant increase in research space with a convergent science approach.
He led the development of the Horiba Institute for Mobility and Connectivity to advance next generation advanced mobility systems. In collaboration with the Samueli Foundation, he helped establish OC STEM, one of the nation’s first STEM ecosystems, which impacts more than 2,500 students per year and more than 250 K-12 teachers and administrators. He worked to develop a regional effort to help community college students transfer to four-year institutions.
The prestige, popularity and external resources of the Samueli School of Engineering rose steadily during his tenure as dean. Dean Washington worked closely with colleagues, on campus and throughout the community, to establish integrated research opportunities and a robust pipeline of future engineers. Please join Chancellor Gillman and me in thanking Gregory for his outstanding service to UCI and wishing him well in his next chapter.
Sincerely,
Enrique J. Lavernia, Ph.D.
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Distinguished Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering