John Hennessy, dean of the School of Engineering, named next provost

President Gerhard Casper has chosen Engineering Dean John Hennessy as Stanford’s next provost.

Hennessy, 46, will succeed Provost Condoleezza Rice on July 1. Rice announced late last year that she would step down in June.

Hennessy came to Stanford in 1977 as an assistant professor of electrical engineering and became dean of the School of Engineering in 1996. His selection caps a three-month process that began with the naming of a search committee of faculty, staff and students in late January. In February, Casper sought nominations for the post from the university community, and the search committee presented its views to the president in a meeting on April 2.

“I have had three years to observe John as dean and I have found him to be an outstanding contributor to university endeavors,” Casper said. “John cares deeply about undergraduate education at the Engineering School and its relationship to the broader curriculum. I’m sure he’ll continue that in his new role.

“The School of Engineering is a model of academic excellence and good management, and John will bring his talent and experience in sustaining that to the provost’s office. And he brings the perspective of science and engineering to the Stanford provostship for the first time in almost 20 years.

“The president and the provost must be a team. I am confident that John and I will have the same close working relationship that I have enjoyed with Condi.”

Rice called Hennessy an “outstanding dean” and said he would provide top-notch leadership for Stanford.

“He knows the university extremely well and has great intellectual curiosity,” she said. “That is evident in the fact that he is both a beloved teacher and outstanding scientist.”

Hennessy said he believes his many years of teaching, his two years as chairman of the computer science department and three years leading the School of Engineering will serve him well in his new post.

“I think I’ve tried to encourage the departments to put an emphasis on their broad role in the teaching of undergraduates, as well as their service role to the rest of the university,” he said.

In addition to maintaining an active research program, Hennessy still teaches and does undergraduate advising – as well as advising graduate students. During his tenure as dean, he has tried to encourage more multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary activities at the school while maintaining a first-rate academic profile and financial stability in the quickly evolving worlds of engineering and technology.

“President Casper’s vision that technology is going to change the way we teach the way students learn is absolutely right,” Hennessy said. “I think the question is, how do we leverage that technology in a way that appreciates and reflects the unique position Stanford is in.”

Hennessy has gained broad experience in fiscal management and fundraising as dean and during his time in private industry.

“If you meet the financial challenges, you can achieve the ends that the faculty and students want to achieve,” he said. “When a professor or a department chair has a great idea, my first response is ‘How can we make this happen?’ ”

Hennessy received his B.E. in electrical engineering from Villanova University in 1973, his master’s degree in computer science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1975, and his Ph.D. in computer science from SUNY-Stony Brook in 1977.

In the fall of 1977 he joined Stanford as assistant professor of electrical engineering, rising to the level of associate professor in 1983 and full professor in 1986. In the 1980s, Hennessy earned a worldwide reputation for his breakthrough work on a simpler computer architecture known as RISC (reduced instruction set computer).

In 1984, he took a leave from the university to help found MIPS Computer Systems, now known as MIPS Technologies. In recent years, his research has focused on building high-performance machines and exploring ways to use massive amounts of computer power for problem-solving in a range of circumstances, including scientific simulations.

He credits his time at MIPS with giving him an appreciation for the world of business and the significance of leadership.

“It taught me about the importance of the people you work with and the importance of leadership, about being able to achieve things that do justice to the people on the front lines,” he said. “I think of leaders as servants of their constituents.”

Although he said his outside business experience has been of exceptional value, he has always returned to the university. “In my heart of hearts, I like being an academic and I like working with students,” he said.

From 1994 to 1996, he served as chairman of Stanford’s Department of Computer Science. In 1996, Casper appointed Hennessy dean of the School of Engineering. Soon after taking the helm of the school, Hennessy oversaw the development of a five-year plan. The planning process resulted in a major new thrust in bioengineering and biomedical engineering.

At the School of Engineering, Hennessy also pledged to encourage the spread of computer technology as an instructional and design tool.

Last fall, the school offered Stanford’s first completely online degree program, a master’s in electrical engineering. Stanford is believed to be the first major research university in the country to offer a master’s degree totally online.

In civil engineering, a new set of courses has been based around “project-based learning,” giving students a realistic experience in design and construction of buildings. Hennessy said such courses reflect a “big push” in hands-on learning, both virtual and actual.

Lucille Shapiro, the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor of Developmental Biology and co-chair of the search committee with Casper, praised Hennessy’s selection.

“We encountered nothing but superlatives about Dean Hennessy from students and faculty alike,” Shapiro said.

In addition to Casper and Shapiro, members of the search committee were Emily R. Bender (graduate student, linguistics); Linda Darling-Hammond (professor of education); Harry J. Elam (associate professor of drama); Deborah Hensler (professor of law); Peggy Hiraoka (director of Human Resources); Maren R. Norton (senior, political science, president of the Associated Students); Amos M. Nur, (professor and chair of geophysics); George G. C. Parker (associate dean, Graduate School of Business); M. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell (professor of industrial engineering); John B. Taylor (professor of economics); and Robert M. Waymouth (professor of chemistry).

Hennessy and his wife, Andrea, and their two teen-aged sons live in Atherton. The family enjoys camping and has traveled together throughout the eastern United States and Europe.