SMU Engineering Dean Leaving to Head U of Tulsa
Geoffrey Orsak, dean of SMU’s Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering, will leave the Hilltop to become president of the University of Tulsa on July 1.
“Under the leadership of Dean Geoffrey Orsak, the Lyle School of Engineering has established new academic programs, constructed new buildings and helped K-12 school districts prepare students for collegiate engineering studies,” SMU president R. Gerald Turner said in a statement. “Most of all, he defined and educated a new type of engineer, one who combines technology with a sense of social responsibility. We look forward to watching him lead the University of Tulsa with the same innovative thinking and creativity that he has exhibited at SMU.”
Orsak was the head of the engineering school for the past eight years. He joined SMU as associate professor of electrical engineering in 1997, and was named associate dean for research and development for the Lyle School in May 2001. He became dean in March 2004. Before his time at SMU, Orsak was associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at George Mason University.
Undergraduate enrollment in the engineering school has increased by more than 400 percent while Orsak has been dean, and the percentage of women engineering students in the Lyle School is now about twice the national average, according to the statement.
