Gregory Louis Fenves (born March 1, 1957) is a structural engineer, professor and college administrator who is the twenty-first president of
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
in Atlanta, Georgia.
Fenves was elected a member of the
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...
in 2014 for contributions to computational modeling, creation of open source software for earthquake engineering analysis, and academic leadership.
Education and career
Fenves was educated at
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
where he received a bachelor's degree (BS) in engineering with distinction in 1979 and was a member of the
Quill and Dagger
Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. It is often recognized as one of the most prominent societies of its type, along with Skull and Bones and Scroll and Key at Yale University. In 1929, ''The New York Times'' stated t ...
society. He went on to earn a master's degree (MSE) in 1980 and a PhD in 1984 from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
He began his career as an assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at
UT Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
from 1984 to 1987. He was on the faculty of
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
for more than 20 years and served as chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2002 to 2007.
He is an internationally recognized structural engineer and led the development of one of the most widely used open-source software platforms in the civil engineering profession. He was one of the pioneers in developing wireless sensor networks for assessing the structural health of buildings, bridges and infrastructure and has focused his research on the simulation of structures subjected to earthquakes.
In 2008, he was appointed as the eighth dean of the
Cockrell School of Engineering
The Cockrell School of Engineering is one of the eighteen colleges within the University of Texas at Austin. It has more than 8,000 students enrolled in eleven undergraduate and thirteen graduate programs. The college is ranked 10th in the world a ...
at
UT Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
and served in that capacity for five years. From 2013 to 2015, he was appointed to the role as executive vice president and provost of
UT Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
. Fenves then served as the twenty-ninth president of
UT Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
from June 2015 to June 2020.
On April 7, 2020, it was announced that Fenves would become the twenty-first president of
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
, a position he assumed on August 1, 2020.
The University of Texas at Austin
In 2015, his administration successfully defended UT Austin's admissions practices before the
US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...
.
The landmark ruling in the
Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin case enabled UT Austin to continue using race as a factor in its admissions process.
Fenves was instrumental in the founding of UT Austin's Dell Medical School — the first medical school in nearly 50 years to be built from the ground up at a top-tier research university — which opened in 2016 and graduated its inaugural class of physicians in 2020.
In 2017 Fenves received the "Guardian of the Human Spirit" award from
Holocaust Museum Houston
The Holocaust Museum Houston is located in Houston's Museum District, in Texas. It is the fourth largest holocaust museum in the U.S. It was opened in 1996.
The Boniuk Center houses Holocaust Museum Houston's Education Department, including f ...
. In 2018, he received the "Hope for Humanity" award from the
Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education & Tolerance The Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum (formerly the Dallas Holocaust Museum Center for Education and Tolerance) is a history education museum in Dallas, Texas, in the West End Historic District at the southeast corner of N. Houston Street an ...
. During the acceptance speeches for both awards, Fenves discussed his family's history of loss and survival during the holocaust.
In 2018, UT Austin posted the highest four-year graduation rates in the university's history, 69.8%, an increase of over 17 percentage points since 2012.
In 2018, Fenves introduced the Texas Advance Commitment to increase affordability by providing assured financial aid for low- and middle-income UT Austin students. In 2019, the UT System Board of Regents approved additional funding from the Permanent University Fund, which now ensures full tuition coverage at The University of Texas at Austin for in-state students with need from families earning up to $65,000 per year and some guaranteed support for those from families earning up to $125,000 per year. In 2020, the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation made a historic gift of $100 million to expand resources and support for all Pell Grant eligible students at UT Austin.
In October 2019, students protested outside the provost's office, calling for more transparency and accountability when the university responds to alleged sexual misconduct violations. A month later, in a letter to the UT community, the university said it would hire “outside experts” to support efforts to address the issue. UT Austin subsequently formed a working group and hired an external law firm, Husch Blackwell, to review the university's sexual misconduct policies and its efforts to prevent and respond to allegations of sex discrimination. The firm concluded the first phase of its review and delivered recommendations, which Fenves accepted in March. Husch Blackwell continued its review and in July provided the university with additional recommendations.
Fenves conceived of a unique public-private partnership, which led to the construction of UT Austin's new basketball arena and events venue — now known as Moody Center, because of a $130 million gift from the Moody Foundation — which opened in late 2022.
On March 13, 2020, Fenves announced that his wife Carmel had contracted
SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...
after a trip to New York City. In an open letter to UT Austin staff, faculty, and students, Fenves stated his wife began exhibiting flu-like symptoms after their trip, during which they attended several events with alumni and students, and was tested positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Both Fenves, his wife, and an additional family member are in self-isolation, and the president has advised community members to follow CDC preventative measures against the spread of the virus.
Two days later, Fenves tested negative for coronavirus.
News outlets reported 3 weeks later, on April 7, 2020, that Fenves would be leaving the University of Texas at Austin to become the president of
Emory University
Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...
, succeeding outgoing president
Claire E. Sterk
Claire Elizabeth Sterk is a Dutch scientist and Charles Howard Candler Professor of Public Health at Emory University. Sterk held faculty positions in anthropology, sociology, and women's, gender, and sexuality studies at Emory. From 2016 to 202 ...
.
Personal life
Fenves' father's family are
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and multiple members of his father's side are
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
survivors, including his father, sister, some cousins, and his grandfather.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fenves, Gregory
American people of Jewish descent
Cornell University College of Engineering alumni
UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni
UC Berkeley College of Engineering faculty
Presidents of the University of Texas at Austin
Place of birth missing (living people)
Living people
1957 births