The Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) was established in 2008 when twenty deans came together in Paris and signed the 'Paris Declaration.'  As we approach our 5th birthday, we are happy to report that the GEDC has grown to include over 120 deans from almost 40 countries, four regional deans chapters and two regional chapters in formation process, nine corporate and other partners.  In October 2012, GEDC held a very successful conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina in conjunction with the World Engineering Education Forum (WEEF 2012).

The Mission of the GEDC is to serve as a global network of engineering deans and to leverage the collective strengths of the deans for the advancement of engineering education, research and service to the global community.  The four main objectives of our strategic plan to include:  institutional leadership, curriculum leadership, policy leadership and accreditation leadership.

Our priorities for 2013 include: (1) Continued growth of the GEDC by meeting the needs to both individual and chapter members; (2) Review and updating of our strategic plan; (3) Providing value to our membership through regional and national events focused on topics of interest and relevance to the community.

I invite you to join us for our fourth GEDC 2013 Chicago Conference, in Illinois, USA in October, 2013.  We look forward to participating in an outstanding conference hosted by the University of Notre Dame and presenting the inaugural GEDC Airbus Diversity Award at our upcoming global conference.

Sarah A. Rajala is Dean of Engineering and the James & Katherine Melsa Professor in Engineering at Iowa State University. Previously she served as dean of engineering and department head of electrical and computer engineering at Mississippi State University, and professor, associate dean for research and graduate programs, and associate dean for academic affairs in the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University. From 1987-1998, she held a visiting appointment in the School of Electrical Engineering at Purdue University. Dr. Rajala’s research expertise is focused on the analysis and process of images and image sequences with application to the areas of color imaging, image coding/compression, and motion estimation and on engineering educational assessment. She has authored and co-authored over 100 refereed papers and has had contributions published in thirteen books.

Dr. Rajala has received numerous awards for her research and professional contributions, including the 2010 WEPAN Educator Award, 2010 Phi Kappa Phi Scholar Award, Michigan Technological University Outstanding Alumnus in 2008, Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2000, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), and Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).  She has an extensive record of leadership to professional and volunteer organizations including ABET, ASEE, IEEE, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi. Please click here to read the interview of Dr. Rajala at ASEE Prism Magazine, September, 2008.