University News
Founding Director Candidate Interviews Set for WIU's School of Engineering
March 27, 2009
MACOMB, IL -- Three candidates for Western Illinois University's School of Engineering's founding director position will be on WIU's campuses for interviews beginning Monday, March 30, according to Schuyler Meixner, director of communications and external relations in Western's College of Business and Technology.
William Pratt, director of the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) program for the Southern Technology Outreach and Innovation Program, will interview on March 30-31. Open sessions will be held from 1-2 p.m. Monday, March 30 in Room 102A on the WIU-Quad Cities 60th Street campus and from 9-10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 31 in Knoblauch Hall 306 on the WIU-Macomb Campus.
Clifford Mirman, professor and chair of the technology department at Northern Illinois University, will interview on April 6-7. Open sessions will be held from 1-2 p.m. Monday, April 6 in Room 102A on the WIU-Quad Cities Campus and from 9-10 a.m. Tuesday, April 7 in Knoblauch Hall 306 on the WIU-Macomb Campus.
Joe Pignatiello, associate professor in the industrial and manufacturing engineering department at Florida State University, will interview on April 9-10. Open sessions will be held from 1-2 p.m. Thursday, April 9 in Room 106 on the WIU-Quad Cities campus and from 10:15-11 a.m. on Friday, April 10 in Knoblauch Hall 239 on the WIU-Macomb campus.
William F. Pratt has served as director of the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) program for the Southern Technology Outreach and Innovation Program since 2007. He previously served as associate professor and interim department chair of the integrated engineering and technology department at Southern Utah University, Cedar City (UT). There he helped develop the first integrated engineering program in the United States. Prior to that, Pratt was chief executive officer and chief scientist for Patterned Fiber Composites, Inc.; an independent engineering and program management consultant; new business development manager and senior program manager for EDO Corporation's acoustic division; and manufacturing engineer for Morton Thiokol. He received his doctorate degree in mechanical engineering and master's degree in engineering management from Brigham Young University and his bachelor's in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Military Academy. He also owns several U.S. patents and has significant ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) experience.
Clifford R. Mirman has served as professor and chair of the technology department at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb (IL) since 1999. In this capacity, he oversees the manufacturing and electrical engineering technology and the industrial management and technology programs for the NIU College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. He previously served on the mechanical engineering faculty at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre (PA), where he also supervised that university's CAD and mechanical testing laboratories. Mirman also worked as a design engineer for the Motorola Corporation in Chicago. He earned his doctorate and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Rochester. He also owns several U.S. patents and has significant ABET accreditation experience.
Joseph J. Pignatiello, Jr., has served as associate professor in the industrial and manufacturing engineering department at Florida State University in Tallahassee (FL) since 1988. Since 2002, he has also supervised a joint industrial engineering program between FSU's College of Engineering and Florida A&M University. He previously served on the engineering faculty at Texas A&M University, the University of Iowa and the University of Arizona. He has also performed a variety of engineering and quality-management consulting activities and is a fellow for the American Society for Quality. He earned his doctorate and master's degrees in industrial and systems engineering from Ohio State University and his bachelor's degree in mathematics from the University of Massachusetts. In his current position, he has obtained significant ABET accreditation experience. Pignatiello has also served as a visiting professor to the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico.
In October 2008, the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) approved Western Illinois University's request to offer a bachelor of science in engineering degree. The 133-semester hour engineering degree will begin Fall 2009 and will be delivered at the WIU-Macomb and WIU-Quad Cities campuses and will provide an integrated course of study. The program will be a plus-two degree completion program (junior and senior years) articulated with the pre-engineering transfer programs at the WIU-Macomb campus and community colleges in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. Western's Quad Cities-based engineering program will be linked to QC businesses through required internships, cooperative education experiences and capstone projects.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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