Donna Riley, the head of the Purdue University School of Engineering, will join UNM as dean of the School of Engineering in April. Prior to joining Purdue in 2017, she was interim head of the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech, program director for engineering education at the National Science Foundation and a faculty member at Smith College.

“UNM attracted my interest with its record of inclusive excellence and its clear vision for how New Mexico’s public flagship university can drive workforce development and economic opportunity in the state and beyond,” said Riley. “As an engineer, I know how our ability to dream, design and develop can contribute to addressing critical community challenges.”

Riley earned a B.S.E. in chemical engineering from Princeton and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon in Engineering and Public Policy. Her research focuses on the integration of ethics, communication, social analysis, lifelong learning and other critical capacities in the formation of engineering professionals.

Riley fills the position held by Christos Christodoulou, who has been dean since 2017, and who will continue as a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.