Westgate Whiting's
Interim Dean

The appointment by the board of trustees, on the recommendation of President William R. Brody, follows the resignation of Dean Don Giddens, who will return July 1 to biomedical research and teaching at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Westgate, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, has focused his research on solid state electronics, circuit modeling, microwaves and high speed circuits. He came to Hopkins as an assistant professor in 1966 after earning master's and doctoral degrees from Princeton University. He was named a full professor in 1975.

Westgate served as associate dean of Engineering for Part-Time Programs from 1983 to 1986 and was chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 1987 to 1994. He also has been a member of the principal professional staff of the Applied Physics Laboratory.

"What is remarkable about Roger Westgate is the degree of confidence he enjoys from faculty across the Homewood campus, in Arts and Sciences as well as in Engineering," Provost Steven Knapp said. "He has distinguished himself in a long career at Hopkins, and has demonstrated his strong commitment to the improvement of undergraduate teaching."

Westgate has been an advocate of encouraging women and minority students to pursue engineering studies. He also created and directs a Hopkins-sponsored summer program that gives high school students at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute the opportunity to do advanced work in engineering, science and mathematics.

"I look forward to serving as interim dean of the Whiting School," Westgate said. "Don Giddens has done a wonderful job in advancing the school, and I am confident that our programs will continue to improve and gain in national stature."

A committee of faculty and students will begin shortly a national search, which the provost expects will result in the appointment as soon as possible of a distinguished academic leader of the Whiting school.