McGinnis named Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Victor Rogers Institute Communications and Public Affairs Leon McGinnis has been selected the College of Engineering's Eugene C. Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems. McGinnis is a professor in the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and associate director of the Manufacturing Research Center. Leon has been one of our distinguished faculty in this discipline and played a key role in its development. I am looking forward to even greater accomplishments in his new role as the Gwaltney Chair in Manufacturing Systems. Steven Danyluk, director of the Manufacturing Research Center, chaired the search committee, which received applications from approximately 50 candidates.
Manufacturing is, by definition, multidisciplinary.
So, in addition to his technical leadership, his emphasis on manufacturing positioned him at the top of the field of candidates every time. For McGinnis, the Gwaltney Chair will aid in his outreach efforts on behalf of Tech's manufacturing community. The Gwaltney Chair gives me the ability to strengthen the network between the people at Tech who are doing exciting things in manufacturing and other leading manufacturing experts around the world. That networking opportunity is really important. It also gives me the ability to recruit students and faculty for Tech.