Galil Appointed to Second Term as Dean

As required by the Georgia Tech Faculty Handbook, a performance review of academic deans occurs at the fifth year of service. Last spring, Provost Rafael L. Bras appointed a committee to evaluate the progress of the programs under the leadership of Dean Galil, as well as a review of his professional contributions and performance as the leader and administrator for the College of Computing.

“The committee commended Dean Galil’s creative and forward-thinking leadership in launching the OMS-CS as well as his strong commitment to undergraduate education and excellence in research,” said Bras. “It was my pleasure to offer him reappointment, and I am pleased he enthusiastically accepted.”

The review lauded Galil for leading the College of Computing through a surge in undergraduate enrollments in Computer Science as well as the recent changing landscape in higher education, including experiments in online delivery being explored at Tech and by peer institutions.

The report noted that Dean Galil’s focus on the OMS-CS, “clearly establishes Georgia Tech as an early leader in this brand of online education,” with current enrollment at 2,845 students as of Fall 2015, and attracting about $4 million in funding from AT&T.

Made evident by Galil’s creation of the Division of Computing Instruction (DCI), and the effort to boost response rates and scores in the Course Instructor Opinion Survey (CIOS), the committee recognized a commitment to high quality educational instruction and continued assessment of teaching quality.

"I'm thrilled and honored to continue as the John P. Imlay Jr. Dean of Computing at Georgia Tech. Five years ago I pledged to help lead the College of Computing into the highest tier of computer science departments in the world, and today I'm more committed than ever to this goal,” Galil said. “We have accomplished tremendous things over those five years in education, in research, and in fostering the kind of global 'GT Computing' community that truly distinguishes this College from our peers. I'm grateful to Provost Bras and the review committee for this vote of confidence, and I'm thankful to everyone in the College of Computing for their support."

Chaired by the Dean of Sciences Paul Goldbart, the committee included the following College of Computing faculty members: Richard Vuduc (Associate Professor, School of Computational Science & Engineering), Kishore Ramachandran (Professor, Computer Science), Merrick Furst (Professor, Computer Science), Henrik Christensen (Professor, Interactive Computing) and Annie Anton (Professor and School Chair, Interactive Computing).

The review was completed through the committee’s own in-depth assessment along with additional feedback from the College of Computing faculty and staff, a self-assessment from Galil, interviews with The College of Computing Advisory Board, and a peer evaluation from Georgia Tech’s other academic deans.  Galil’s new appointment is for five years, beginning September 1.