The University of Wyoming has appointed a new dean for its College of Engineering. Dr. Michael Pishko, a biomedical engineering professor at Texas A&M University, will take over the job on March 1st.
The engineering school has been without a permanent dean for more than a year. Pishko takes the reigns amid a legislatively-mandated push to become a “top-tier” engineering program. That effort is backed by more than $130 million in state funds and private donations.
UW President Dick McGinity headed the search committee that hired Pishko. He says the state initiative made this hire particularly important.
“The Governor and the Legislature put up significant funding to bring that about,” says McGinity And that was a primary reason what I thought it was important for me to be involved directly in it.
Pishko’s base salary will be $265,000 per year—making him the highest paid dean at UW.
UW’s Colleges of Education, Business and Law are still in the process of finding permanent deans.