Retirement celebration for CST dean Jeff Wright is June 6

Jeff Wright, dean of the College of Sciences and Technology at Western Washington University, is retiring from that position at the end of this academic year.

A retirement celebration will be held in his honor from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, June 6, in Viking Union Room 567. RSVP to tonya.alexander@wwu.edu or 360-650-6400.

Wright has been CST dean since 2011. During Wright’s tenure, the college has made significant advancements. Most recently, Western was successful in securing new funding from the Legislature, which allows CST to transition several Engineering Technology programs to full engineering and to more than double the number of computer science graduates. He has also developed strong regional and statewide advocacy efforts on behalf of the college, new external funding sources, and important industrial collaborations that are providing innovative education experiences for Western students.

Prior to being CST dean at Western, Wright was hired to create the newest School of Engineering within the University of California system, in Merced, Calif. He served there for 10 years as founding dean. At the same time, he was appointed founding co-director of the CITRIS Institute – an advanced computer science research center based at the University of California, Berkeley. Wright also served for 20 years on the engineering faculty at Purdue University, including as assistant, then associate dean of Engineering; professor of Civil Engineering; and as director of the Indiana Water Resources Research Center.

Wright received his doctorate in Geography and Environmental Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Washington. As an undergraduate, he attended Western during his freshman year.

CST includes academic departments of Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering Technology, Geology, Mathematics and Physics/Astronomy; and the Science, Mathematics and Technology Education program; the Internet Studies Center, the Advanced Materials Science and Engineering center (AMSEC) and Biomedical Research Activities in Neuroscience (BRAIN) program.