Candis Claiborn to lead Engineering, Architecture

PULLMAN — Candis Claiborn has accepted the post of interim dean of Washington State University’s College of Engineering and Architecture. Claiborn, who is currently the college’s associate dean for research and graduate programs and a professor of civil and environmental engineering, will begin her new duties Aug. 16. 

“I am very pleased that Dr. Claiborn, an outstanding researcher and teacher, has accepted the challenge of leading the College of Engineering and Architecture for the next year,” said Robert Bates, provost and academic vice president. “Our world-class faculty, excellent academic programs and rapidly growing research enterprise continue to bring more visibility to the College of Engineering and Architecture and Dr. Claiborn’s experience and commitment will be of great assistance in guiding our ambitious course.”

Claiborn has served as associate dean in the college since 2003. She joined the WSU faculty in 1991 and is a well-known researcher in the area of air quality. She has collaborated with other researchers in the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research to study atmospheric-biospheric interactions of trace gases. She recently developed a research program in atmospheric aerosols in which she collaborates with her colleagues in the Laboratory for Atmospheric Research, as well as others in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington, the chemistry department at Eastern Washington University and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

She has received several teaching awards in her department, including Outstanding Teaching Faculty in Civil Engineering in 1994, the Leon Luck Faculty Award for the Most Effective Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1998, the Outstanding Teaching Faculty in Civil Engineering in 1999 and the Richard Crain Faculty Award for Distinction in Ethics Teaching in 2003.

“I am looking forward to this year with a lot of anticipation and a certain degree of trepidation,” Claiborn said. “Thanks to the leadership of Anjan Bose, the College of Engineering and Architecture is on upward trajectories in all areas—undergraduate education, externally supported research, scholarship, graduate education and external relations. I feel very fortunate, indeed, for this opportunity and will work very hard for the college and WSU in the upcoming year.”

Claiborn received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Idaho in 1980. After graduation, she worked in the petroleum industry for Chevron and for Atlantic Richfield Corp. She returned to college at North Carolina State University, where she received a doctoral degree in chemical engineering.

The search for the dean of the College of Engineering and Architecture will be continued in fall 2005. Mike Griswold, dean of the College of Sciences, is chairing the search. Bose, the current dean of the college, plans to rejoin the faculty in August.