University of Michigan-Dearborn’s Commission for Women honored College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) Dean Tony England during the organization’s annual Susan B. Anthony Awards Dinner on April 4. England received the Susan B. Anthony Campus Award in recognition of his longstanding commitment to the advancement of women and girls in the fields of science and engineering.
Nominators said England has had a tremendous impact on the college since he arrived in 2012. In particular, he has been instrumental in helping women faculty and students achieve success. His belief, that the power of diversity plays a crucial role in developing engineering solutions, has made him an agent of change in the college.
England has worked to increase enrollment of women students in CECS, which is up 18 percent. He also has tripled the number of women full-time faculty in the department, as he understands that women students (and future students) benefit from female role models and mentors to guide them.
He has spent much of his career in support of science and engineering education. He has increased and improved outreach to girls in grades K-12 to encourage them to pursue an education and career in STEM fields. Nominators noted that he understands many issues facing women and minorities in STEM careers. He has been a mentor and supporter of women’s professional advancement and gender equity in the engineering fields. He is an active supporter of the UM-Dearborn student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and helps the chapter attend the national SWE conference every year.
England earned his Ph.D. in geophysics, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in geology and geophysics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is a scientist and former astronaut with NASA. He served as mission scientist for Apollo 13 and Apollo 16, mission specialist crewman on the Spacelab 2 flight in 1985 and Space Station program scientist in 1986-87. He also is a professor of electrical engineering and computer science and atmospheric, oceanic, and of space sciences in the College of Engineering at U-M Ann Arbor.
