Veteran professor Glenn Steele to serve as interim engineering dean

Contact: Phil Hearn

A veteran Mississippi State professor and administrator will head the university's Bagley College of Engineering on an interim basis pending a national search for a new dean.

W. Glenn Steele, an MSU William L. Giles Distinguished Professor and head of the mechanical engineering department, will assume his new duties Oct. 1. He replaces current interim dean Bob Taylor, who plans to retire at the end of October.

"I am pleased to be able to serve the Bagley College of Engineering in this transition period," said Steele. "I look forward to working with my faculty colleagues, and the alumni and friends of the college."

Taylor was named interim engineering dean June 30 upon the retirement of A. Wayne Bennett, who had held the position for eight years. Steele served as interim dean of the college during an earlier transition period.

"Dr. Taylor graciously recommended that a new interim dean be appointed effective Oct. 1 to allow a month's transition period," MSU Provost Peter Rabideau said in announcing Steele's latest appointment. "Dr. Steele was the obvious choice since he served previously in that capacity and did a fine job."

Steele joined MSU's mechanical engineering faculty in 1979, becoming department head in 1990 and a Giles Distinguished Professor in 1997. Over the years, he has been principal or co-principal investigator on 31 research contracts totaling $7 million and sponsored by NASA, U.S. Department of Energy and other agencies.

From 1974 to 1979, Steele worked at the Westinghouse/Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh, Pa., where he did research and development work on nuclear power plant components for the U.S. Navy. He received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from MSU in 1968, and master's and doctoral degrees in the same field from North Carolina State University, respectively, in 1970 and 1974.

Steele's research work at MSU has focused on computational and experimental research in the energy systems area, with special emphasis on the applications of uncertainty analysis. He is the author of two books, two book chapters, and more than 90 journal articles and conference papers. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and earlier this year received the MSU Bagley College of Engineering Career Achievement Award.

Bagley ranks in the top 15 percent in the nation and fourth in the Southeast among colleges of engineering in research expenditures. Enrollment includes more than 2,100 students studying in 10 major fields.

The college is named in honor of MSU alumnus and Texas resident James Worth Bagley, who along with his wife Jean, established a $25 million endowment in 2002. Their gift remains the largest single financial commitment in the university's 126-year history.