April 23, 1999
KALAMAZOO -- A seasoned educational leader with a research track record in the fields of laser and electro-optic research has been named dean of Western Michigan University's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Col. Daniel M. Litynski, professor and head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the U.S. Military Academy, will take the reins as dean of WMU's engineering school on July 1. His appointment, which was approved April 23 by the WMU Board of Trustees, also includes an appointment as a professor, with tenure, in WMU's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
"We're extremely fortunate to have found a new dean with the outstanding research and academic leadership background that Dr. Litynski will bring to this position," said Dr. Timothy Light, WMU provost and vice president for academic affairs. "As our College of Engineering and Applied Sciences continues to grow in both stature and size, his management skills will insure that growth is accomplished with a sense of vision, careful planning and attention to academic excellence."
Litynski said what attracted him to WMU was the "good people, tremendous opportunities and challenges, and the University's commitment to the educational process." Those are among the discoveries he said he made when he came to the campus during the search process.
"In my visits to WMU, I sensed a very strong foundation in a university that is looking to the future to accomplish even greater things," Litynksi said. "I also sensed real commitment to the College of Engineering."
Litynski currently oversees a department with 55 faculty and staff members that offers some 50 courses to 3,000 students each year. He was appointed to head that new department in 1990 following a nationwide search. His first task in that role was to merge the former departments of electrical engineering and computer science into one cohesive unit. Under his direction, the new department launched three research centers and initiated executive seminars in information technology for government and industrial senior executives.
Prior to assuming the role of department head at West Point, he had served there since 1980 as a research officer, assistant and associate professor and professor of electrical engineering. He also served as an assistant professor of physics at West Point from 1974 to 1978.
A native of Amsterdam, N.Y., Litynski earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1965, a master's degree in optics from the University of Rochester in 1971 and a doctoral degree in physics from Rensselaer in 1978. In 1989, he was a U.S. Military Academy Fellow of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., where he studied international, national and industrial policy and operations, with a special emphasis in foreign policy and the electronics industry.
Litynski was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1965 and served with the armor and ordnance units of the U.S. Army in Vietnam and Germany at both the platoon and battalion levels. His career also has included a research position at the USA Ballistic Research Laboratory at the Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground.
His research has been published in numerous technical journals and has been presented internationally. He has served on a number of international advisory boards for such organizations as UNESCO and the International Liaison Group for Engineering Education. In 1993-94, he served as the first visiting professor and external examiner in the New International Faculty of Engineering at the Technical University in Lodz, Poland.
At WMU, Litynski will replace Dr. Leonard Lamberson, dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences since 1989. Lamberson announced last fall that he would be stepping down June 30. After taking a year-long administrative leave, he will return to the faculty.
Media contact: Cheryl Roland, 616 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu
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