O’Sullivan named dean of joint engineering program

Joseph A. O’Sullivan, Ph.D., the Samuel C. Sachs Professor of Electrical Engineering, has been appointed dean of the University of Missouri-St. Louis/Washington University Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program, according to Salvatore P. Sutera, Ph.D., interim dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

O’Sullivan, whose appointment was effective Aug. 1, succeeds Kevin Z. Truman, Ph.D., the Albert P. and Blanche Y. Greensfelder Professor of Engineering, who was named Dean of the School of Computing and Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

“University of Missouri-St. Louis Provost Glen Hahn Cope and I are pleased that Professor O’Sullivan is willing to serve in this important role,” Sutera said. “We are confident that Professor O’Sullivan will continue to build upon the strong partnership that exists between our two institutions and will continue to strengthen the Joint Undergraduate Engineering Program.

“We are also grateful to Professor Truman for his dedication and leadership during his time as dean of the joint program,” Sutera said.

O’Sullivan joined the WUSTL faculty in the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1986 after earning bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Notre Dame.

Since then, O’Sullivan has held several leadership positions, including chair of the Faculty Senate Council and as the faculty representative to the Board of Trustees. O’Sullivan also was the director of the Electronic Systems and Signals Research Laboratory (ESSRL) from 1998-2007, and he directs the Imaging Science and Engineering certificate program.

Created in 1993, the mission of the joint program is to provide a high-quality engineering education leading to a well-trained, sophisticated work force primarily for the St. Louis region.

Students who enter the program take pre-engineering and some engineering courses at University of Missouri-St. Louis and then take upper-level engineering courses at WUSTL. The degree is awarded by the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Bachelor of science degree programs are offered in civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. There are 309 upper-level engineering students enrolled in the program, with another 88 pre-engineering students enrolled. To date, 356 have graduated from the joint program.

For more information about the joint engineering program, visit engineering.wustl.edu.