Dr. M. Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of engineering at Texas A&M University, received the Kate Gleason Medal for Leadership in Engineering Education from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).
The award, which was presented to Banks during a ceremony on May 7, was established in recognition of the influential role that academic leaders of engineering colleges play in creating the engineers of tomorrow.
In addition to receiving the award, Banks presented a public lecture to the students, faculty and staff of RIT on “Growth with excellence: engineering education transforms Texas A&M.”
Banks’ lecture highlighted the Dwight Look College’s 25 by 25 initiative, a transformational program to increase access for qualified students to pursue engineering education at Texas A&M to an enrollment of 25,000 engineering students by 2025.
The initiative was prompted as a response to the growing demand in Texas and the U.S. for more engineers. The Texas Workforce Commission is projecting a 19 percent growth in engineering jobs in the next 12 years, equating to more than 43,000 jobs. This projection mirrors a xcall by the President’s Council of Advisors on STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — for the nation to increase the number of STEM graduates to one million in the next 10 years.
“The award is inspired by the reality that the future of our society is shaped by the work of engineers, and the shaping of those engineers is the business of engineering colleges,” said Harvey Palmer, dean of RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering. “Those individuals who are providing outstanding leadership at engineering colleges deserve special recognition, for the good of our nation and our global society.”