William M. Dunne Named College of Engineering's Associate Dean for Research and Technology
Dr. William (Bill) Dunne
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee—The College of Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has named William (Bill) M. Dunne, the current Associate Dean for Research, Facilities and Graduate Student Policies in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), as the College of Engineering’s (COE) Associate Dean for Research and Technology effective July 1, 2009.
In his previous position, Dunne worked to strengthen the quality of research, scholarship and creative activity across the CAS, including leading the development of the Humanities Initiative, which created greater external recognition and resulted in major increases in the numbers of prestigious fellowships awarded to Humanities faculty members.
Dunne’s facilities activities included supervising everything from minor repairs to renovation projects for entire buildings, while continually working to enhance the functional interactions between academic units and UT’s Facilities Services. Dunne has also been involved in the planning for the Joint Institute of Advanced Materials (JIAM) building, a construction project on the Cherokee Farm Campus that involves the participation of both the COE and the CAS.
“The college is very fortunate to hire someone with substantial building development experience in light of three new buildings that are currently being constructed and/or in the design phase, including the new Min Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building, which is already under construction; a new civil/industrial engineering building, where work is scheduled to begin in early 2010; and the new JIAM building, with construction scheduled to begin in late summer,” said Dean of Engineering Wayne Davis. “Dr. Dunne also enhances the ability for collaboration between engineering and arts and sciences as well as other colleges on the Knoxville campus.”
Dunne also chairs the university’s Classroom Upgrade process, a program to renovate and improve classrooms at UT that is currently entering its 10th year. This project included directing the Synchronous Learning Task Force, which uses network, video and simulation technologies to enhance campus-based student learning, including real-time partnering of student peers and professionals at other institutions.
Dunne received his B.S. and Ph.D. in geology from the University of Bristol, England.
Dunne joined the faculty of West Virginia University as an assistant professor of geology in 1980, and was promoted to associate professor in 1986. He joined UT’s CAS in 1988 as an associate professor of geology and in 1997 was named head of the Department of Geological Sciences. Dunne was appointed to his current position as associate dean in 2002.
Dunne received the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences Teaching Award in 1991 and 1995. He was awarded the UT Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 1994 and the CAS Senior Faculty Teaching Award in 1995.
Dunne served on the editorial board of the Journal of Structural Geology from 1999 until 2006, when he was selected as one of five editors for that publication. He has also served as the chair of the Structural and Tectonics Division of the Geological Society of America (GSA) and will be recognized as a Fellow of the GSA in Fall 2009.
For more information, contact Kim Cowart, Communications Manager, Office of Engineering Communications, at (865) 974-0686/kcowart@utk.edu.