Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Andrew Sears announced today that Craig Wills, professor of computer science, has agreed to serve as interim dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, effective Jan. 1, as the university conducts a search for a permanent dean. Jean King, Peterson Family Dean of Arts and Sciences, is stepping down from the role at the end of this month.
A member of the WPI community since 1990, Wills has served in many campus roles, including as head of the Department of Computer Science for more than 11 years. Under his guidance, the department experienced tremendous growth and transformation, becoming the largest department on campus; its research enterprise quadrupled in expenditures and PhDs produced. Wills oversaw a 50% increase in full-time faculty and was an advocate for the development of new interdisciplinary programs in data science, cybersecurity, and neuroscience. His work to position computer science as a hub of collaboration across campus has fostered a collegial community of high-quality faculty, talented students, and dedicated staff.
Wills earned his BS in computer science from the University of Nebraska and his MS and PhD in computer science from Purdue University. His research interests include internet application performance and measurement; security and privacy; distributed systems; networking; operating systems; human-computer interaction; computer science education and workforce; and the data-driven analysis of higher education, geography, and sports. He has published extensively and advised numerous graduate and undergraduate students throughout his career. He is a member of the IEEE Computer Society and the Association for Computing Machinery.
WPI extends its thanks to Craig for his willingness to serve and Jean for more than eight years of dedicated service to the School of Arts and Sciences, to WPI, and to higher education as a whole.
