Dean Kazem Kazerounian, who has led the University of Connecticut College of Engineering for 12 years, will step down and return to a teaching and research role in August.
Kazerounian started as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in 1984 and developed leadership roles throughout his career, becoming the Dean in June 2012. Now, he is looking forward to returning to the teaching role, emphasizing the importance of change.
“Change in any position is good for my career, is good for me as a person, and is good for the College of Engineering,” Kazerounian said. “At the same time, I have some research problems that I want to go back to and solve before I retire. And I want to be back with the students again.”
Kazerounian said he hopes to bring the overlap of advanced technologies and their impact on society to his classrooms. On the research side, he said he wants to focus on robotics and gear system design.
During his time as Dean, enrollment in the College of Engineering has more than doubled, research expenditures have increased and industry partners offered 46 full scholarships for students, according to UConn Today. Now, the College of Engineering consists of nearly 200 faculty, 152 staff members and about 5,000 students.
Last fall, the School of Engineering, as it was called since 1940, was elevated to a college, and Mechanical Engineering is now the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Manufacturing Engineering.
Kazerounian, who oversees all academic programs, seven departments and 20 centers, said he tried to expand the college, ranging from inclusion and diversity programs, student clubs, new degree programs, scholarships, and internship opportunities.
In the current state of budget and resource concerns, Kazerounian said there are always going to be challenges, but as a community of students, faculty and staff, we have to see beyond that.
It is like climbing a mountain; when you are in the mountain, you don’t get to see how big the mountain is, but then, after 30 years and 40 years, you look back, and you see the majesty of this experience that we had at UConn.
Kazem Kazerounian, Former Dean of Engineering
“It is like climbing a mountain; when you are in the mountain, you don’t get to see how big the mountain is, but then, after 30 years and 40 years, you look back, and you see the majesty of this experience that we had at UConn,” Kazerounian said. “Looking at it that way, we have to cherish the moment, every single moment. As a faculty member, I do.”
Kazerounian explained that UConn has been home for him and his family. Along with his 40 years of commitment to the College of Engineering, his wife worked at UConn for 30 years, and his three children graduated from UConn, helping them build successful careers.
“We are a UConn family all the way, and I feel UConn has come a long way from being a regional university to an internationally renowned university.”
Outside of his work as dean, Kazem is a member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, a fellow of the American Society for Mechanical Engineers and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. He has served on editorial boards of the ASME Applied Mechanics Review and ASME Journal of Medical Devices and was associate editor of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design and the Journal of Mechanisms and Machine Theory. In 2006, he received the ASME Design Division Mechanisms and Robotics Award in recognition of cumulative contributions to the field of mechanism design and theory.
As Kazerounian prepares to step down, the Office of the Provost has begun the process of searching for the next dean. A search committee is hosting final interviews this month. More information on the candidates is on the Academic Leader Searches website.
“I look forward to the creativity and to new ideas of the people that come in this position, as the same as when I came to this position. I tried to provide new ideas and new energy, and that cycle needs to continue,” Kazerounian said.