CU DENVER ATTRACTS TOP TALENT. THESE NEW DEANS JOIN OUR ROSTER OF EXTRAORDINARY LEADERS TO INSPIRE STUDENTS AND ELEVATE LEARNING. Nan Ellin, PhD Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning “The university should be an engaged citizen, not an ivory tower,” says Dr. Nan Ellin, the new dean of CU Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning. CU Denver’s embrace of this ideal is much of what attracted Dean Ellin to her new role. Prior to joining CU Denver, Ellin was the founding dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington where she was instrumental in the unification of two schools into one college. In just her first year at CU Denver, she has led the college to create a new strategic vision: to ignite evolution that enriches places for people and the planet through advancing the fields of architecture, planning, landscape architecture, historic preservation and urban design. Dean Ellin has also initiated a robust internship and mentorship program for students to prepare them for their professions, helped facilitate the university’s largest to-date planned gift, and guided renovations of key educational spaces including new fabrication and gallery space. Going forward, Dean Ellin is leading the call to “Imagine a Great Region (and Build It)” to inform and inspire projects in the city and region.
Martin Dunn, PhD Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science “I am so impressed by the students here, their passion and their sense of purpose. With this and the university’s setting in the thriving city of Denver, the sky is the limit,” says Dr. Martin Dunn, the new dean of CU Denver’s College of Engineering and Applied Science. Dunn joins the college from Singapore University of Technology and Design, built in partnership with MIT, where he oversaw the design and operation of the research and innovation enterprise. His resume also includes positions with Boeing Company, Sandia National Laboratories and the National Science Foundation, as well as department chair and faculty in mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. Dunn kicked off 2018 with a unique human-centered design approach to create a shared vision for the college and a strategic plan to realize it. This involved a listening tour with employers and consultation with globally recognized experts on strategies to position the college with a student-centered focus, pointing it toward tomorrow’s technologies and industries, and enabling it to educate the engineer of the future, ready to thrive in an uncertain, fast-changing world.
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