President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton has issued the following message to the York University community:
I am very pleased to inform you that the search for dean of the Lassonde School of Engineering (LSE) has reached a successful conclusion.
Last fall, I established a search committee comprising members of the Lassonde community, including faculty, staff and students, which was chaired by the interim vice-president academic and provost and charged with undertaking a search for the next dean. This is a pivotal time in the school’s development as it evolves from a new Faculty to an established engineering school and seeks to broaden its range of innovative programming and enhance its national and international profile.
Jane Goodyer
Following an extensive national and international search, which attracted outstanding candidates, I am pleased to announce that the search committee recommended the appointment of Professor Jane Goodyer to the position of dean, for a five-year term. On my recommendation, on June 12, the Board of Governors Executive Committee, on behalf of the board, concurred with the recommendation for the appointment.
Professor Goodyer will join York University on Oct. 1 to take up the position. She is arriving from Massey University in New Zealand, where she is a professor and, since 2017, has served as head of school in the School of Engineering and Advanced Technology. In this position, she has been a member of the College of Sciences’ executive team. She has led strategic planning to reposition organizational structures and teaching and research in the school, increase enrolments and build stronger international collaborations. Prior to this appointment, she served as the school’s associate dean for undergraduate teaching and learning, with responsibility for curriculum and student success and welfare, where she led a redesign of the curriculum, incorporating blended learning and project-based learning, resulting in improved student satisfaction and retention. Before her appointment at Massey University in 2006, she held an appointment at Coventry University in the U.K., where she was part of a research centre working with automotive businesses to apply cutting-edge research in advanced joining technologies for body-in-white manufacture.
Professor Goodyer holds a BEng (Hons.) in production engineering from Coventry Polytechnic and a PhD in manufacturing systems design engineering from Coventry University. Her research has evolved from a focus on manufacturing engineering to an interest in influencing change in engineering education at a national level in New Zealand, bringing academia and industry closer through employer-led degree apprenticeships. She is currently leading a new initiative in this area for the government’s Tertiary Education Commission. She has been closely involved in university-industry partnerships throughout her career in both New Zealand and the U.K.
Professor Goodyer is dedicated to the advancement of women in engineering and encouraging girls to consider a career in engineering. To this end, she recently launched a national humanitarian engineering outreach program for 10- to 14-year-old girls. She has also been active with New Zealand’s accrediting body (EngNZ) and its higher education funding body (Tertiary Education Commission), as an adviser on key issues such as the national technology curriculum.
I would like to thank Professor Richard Hornsey for his outstanding leadership as interim dean and his commitment to the school and the University, and for generously agreeing to extend his term to Sept. 30 in order to bridge to Professor Goodyer’s arrival on Oct. 1. I would also like to thank the members of the Search Committee for the Dean of the Lassonde School of Engineering for their contributions to this important process.
We look forward to welcoming Professor Goodyer to York University as dean of LSE and to working together in the coming years as she undertakes this important leadership role. I know that all members of the school and the University will join me in congratulating and welcoming her.