National Academy of Engineering Member to Address Engineering Faculty and Students
September 21, 2005
Dr. Paul E. Torgersen, President Emeritus of Virginia Tech and member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), will present our inaugural NAE Lecture on September 22, 2005 at 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Swalm Auditorium.
Dr. Torgersen will speak on “Technology and the Quality of Life”. Engineering faculty, staff and students will have an opportunity to meet Dr. Torgersen at a reception immediately following the lecture on the 4th Floor of the Swalm Building.
Paul E. Torgersen came to Virginia Tech as professor and head of the Department of Industrial Engineering. In 1970, he was appointed dean of the College of Engineering, a post he held for over 20 years and led the College of Engineering to its place of national distinction – being ranked 17th in the nation among public and private institutions. He then served as president of the Corporate Research Center and was also interim vice president for development and university relations. He was named president of Tech in the Fall of 1993 and served until January, 2000. He has taught at least one three-hour course each semester for the past 38 years.
Torgersen is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers and the American Society of Engineering Education. In 2001 he received the Institute’s highest recognition – the Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Award and earlier, in 1991, had received ASEE’s Lamme Medal. He received Tech’s first Affirmative Action Award, it’s 1992 Sporn Award for Teaching Excellence and was named Virginia’s Engineering Educator of the Year in 1992. He currently holds the John W. Hancock, Jr. Chair of Engineering. Dr. Torgersen has also been recognized by the Ohio State University and Lehigh University, where he received his graduate and undergraduate degrees. The Ohio State University recognized him with the Benjamin G. Lamme Meritorious Achievement Medal in 1990, followed by an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Lehigh University in 1997.
He served from 1979-81 as chairman of the engineering Deans’ Council (the national organization of engineering deans). In 1986, for his exceptional achievement in the field of engineering, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering and more recently to the governing board of that same organization.
The National Academy of Engineering Lectureship was initiated this year to bring prominent members of the National Academy of Engineering to campus to see our engineering school.