Wayne T. Davis
Interim Chancellor, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (retired)
(Inaugural) Wayne T. Davis Dean’s Chair of Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Education
- BS 1969, Physics, Pfeiffer College
- MS 1971, Physics, Clemson University
- MS 1973 and PhD 1975, Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Wayne Davis came to UT in 1971 as a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering and stayed for almost 50 years, eventually retiring after serving as interim chancellor. Prior to becoming dean of engineering in 2008, Davis served stints as assistant dean of the Graduate School from 1985 until 1988 and as its associate dean from 1988 until 1991. He was named University Macebearer in 2003, the highest faculty honor bestowed by the university.
He was serving as the college’s associate dean for research and technology in 2008 when he filled in the dean’s position on an interim term for a year before he was asked to serve permanently. He remained as dean for 10 years until 2018 when he was asked to serve as interim chancellor before his retirement in 2019.
Under his leadership as dean, the college saw tremendous growth, including the opening of the Min H. Kao Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building and the John D. Tickle Engineering Building, the design and beginning of construction on the new $129-million Zeanah Engineering Complex, the at- or near-doubling of undergraduate and graduate enrollment, major increases in research expenditures and the number endowed faculty positions, and the naming of the college itself.
Davis also boosted the college outside of campus, playing a key role in helping or establishing several joint centers and research programs with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, among others.
He has received research awards and recognition from the US Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, the National Science Foundation, and many companies, and is a fellow of both the Air and Waste Management Association and American Society of Engineering Education and a board-certified member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineering and Science, and was recently awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the national Tau Beta Pi.
Further afield, Davis was elected secretary of the Global Engineering Deans Council, served on the editorial review board for the Chinese Academy of Engineering’s journal Engineering, and was an invited speaker at a CAE-sponsored conference in China.