innovate arkansas

Ashok Saxena has been reappointed to a five-year term as dean of the University of Arkansas' College of Engineering, the school announced on Thursday.

UA Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Sharon Gaber said she sought input from students and faculty, including department chairs, as well as alumni and outside professionals among others during the review process. Saxena originally was appointed dean in 2003 and was the first faculty member to hold an endowed chair funded by the $300 million gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation.

Saxena's current term will run through June 30, 2015. Gaber praised Saxena for his entrepreneurial interests and said she looks forward to the college's further growth in student recruitment and retention as well as research.

“Dean Saxena has done a great job moving the College of Engineering forward on many fronts," Gaber said. "He has helped to raise the international reputation of the college and the university, and has indicated that he will continue to work with the faculty, staff and students to raise the college’s profile in the coming years.”

Saxena came to the UA from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he had been the Regents’ Professor and a former chair of the School of Materials Science and Engineering. He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and a master's degree in materials science and metallurgical engineering from the University of Cincinnati.