KU names Alabama professor as new dean of School of Engineering

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas has named Stuart R. Bell, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the Center for Advanced Vehicle Technologies at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, as the new dean of the School of Engineering at KU.

Bell will succeed Carl E. Locke as dean on Aug. 1. Locke, whose 16-year tenure as dean is the second-longest in school history, will remain at KU as a faculty member in the chemical and petroleum engineering department.

"Stuart Bell is inheriting a fine school, which Dean Locke has positioned for an even better future," KU Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost David Shulenburger said in announcing Bell's appointment. "Stuart has accomplished great things at Alabama, and I am confident that under his leadership, the KU School of Engineering will continue to grow and thrive. I look forward to welcoming Stuart and Susan and their family to the university and Lawrence community."

Bell, who earned a bachelor of science degree in nuclear engineering and master of science and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering at Texas A&M University, joined the Alabama faculty in 1986. He has been chair of the mechanical engineering department since 1995. As chair, his department's graduate program has become the largest in Alabama's engineering college, research funding has increased eightfold and the department has reformed its undergraduate curriculum. Bell also conceived and founded the advanced vehicle technologies center in 1998. The center has attracted more than $7 million in research support.

"I am honored and excited about the opportunity to work with faculty, staff and alumni of the School of Engineering," Bell said. "The school has invested itself to build solid programs across the board and is well poised to move the education and research programs to the next level."

Among his many professional awards, Bell received the Meritorious Service Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Internal Combustion Engine Division, in 1995 and the T. Morris Hackney Faculty Leadership Award, College of Engineering, University of Alabama, in 2001.

The KU School of Engineering includes 100 faculty members, 10 fields of undergraduate study and 15 graduate degree programs. In fall 2001, the school admitted 1,633 undergraduate students and 679 graduate students into its programs.

Construction is under way for a $15 million, three-story building that will attach to the school's home, Learned Hall. The new building, which has not yet been named, is being built entirely though gifts from generous alumni and friends of the school. The 82,000-square-foot building, which will house the dean's office complex and the electrical engineering and computer science department, is expected to be completed in June 2003.

Deans of the School of Engineering
Frank O. Marvin, 1893-1913
Perley F. Walker, 1913-1927
George C. Shaad, 1927-1936
Ivan C. Crawford, 1937-1940
Jay J. Jakosky, 1940-1943
Jacob O. Jones (acting dean) 1943-1947
T. DeWitt Carr, 1947-1957
John S. McNown, 1957-1965
William P. Smith, 1965-1978 and 1984-1986
David C. Kraft, 1978-1984
Carl E. Locke Jr., 1986-2002
Stuart R. Bell, 2002-