Longtime faculty member who served as dean ad interim for two years assumes permanent leadership
By Molly Glass
The new dean of the Boston University College of Engineering is a familiar face: Elise Morgan, interim dean since July 2023 and a long-standing and deeply respected member of the ENG faculty, will take over the role permanently starting August 1, BU officials announced Thursday.
Her appointment comes after a national search process that included “several strong candidates for the role,” Gloria Waters, University provost and chief academic officer, said in a letter to the BU community. Waters described Morgan’s “exemplary leadership” as a key factor in the decision.
Morgan’s résumé as a leader is robust. Formerly an associate dean of ENG, she helped facilitate greater collaboration throughout the college, strengthening its research excellence in the process. She created new junior faculty mentoring programs, designed and oversaw a new faculty search process that focuses on convergent research themes, helped recruit a host of cross-disciplinary graduate students, and designed and oversaw the college’s holistic grants administration and finance system.
“Professor Morgan has brought a steady, collaborative management style focused on accelerating ambitious new scholarship, further strengthening the college’s undergraduate offerings, and enhancing a culture of inclusion for students, faculty, and staff across all departments, in her role as interim dean for the last two years,” Waters wrote in the letter. “In doing so, she has established her own vision for the college as a laboratory for innovation and a training ground for premier engineering talent.”