Dr. Joyce T. Shirazi

Dr. Joyce T. Shirazi, Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology at Hampton University has a long and distinguished career in higher education and in industry. At Hampton University Dr. Shirazi leads a skilled team of faculty and staff in the Engineering, Architecture and Aviation departments, to ensure that Hampton University is a leader in STEM related fields.

Dr. Shirazi has served in both faculty and staff positions in the University System of Maryland (USM), including Senior Vice President and Chief of Staff in the Office of the President, Chair of the Information and Technology Systems Department, Program Director and Collegiate Professor for Engineering Management, MBA, Management of Information Systems, and Technology Management programs in the Graduate School at University of Maryland University College. She served as the Chair of the Council of University System Faculty for USM and as the chief liaison between the Chancellor, the Board of Regents and the Council. She advised the Chancellor, Presidents and Provosts on matters of system wide professional and educational concern to the faculty and matters to which faculty bring special expertise. In addition she served on the Maryland Higher Education Commission Faculty Advisory Council.

Dr. Shirazi guided the university through a global process of creating a strategic plan, which was a community-wide endeavor for faculty, staff, alumni, boards and students. She managed a budget of approximately $15 million, which included Communications, Special Events, Commencement, Institutional Advancement, Alumni Relations, Career Services, Administration and Priorities, Diversity and Equity, Executive Cybersecurity, Fair Practices and Compliance, Government Relations, and the Arts Program. She led the academic and administrative management of the technology department in the graduate school with at least 300 adjunct faculty members and over 20 full-time faculty and staff members to ensure the highest quality of courses and preparation for rolling annual academic program reviews by USM. She negotiated Memorandums of Understanding and coordinated the academic management of the engineering programs offered on-site at locations, such as NASA. She led major course revamps in all technology programs, which included emergency management, homeland security management, database systems management, biotechnology management, information management, information technology, technology management, information systems, software engineering, environmental management, and project management. She supervised the creation of an employer-based Cybersecurity Curriculum Advisory Council to enhance cybersecurity programs, with key employers and representatives serving on the council. She was a founding director of the successful and innovative online MBA Program, which was one of the first in the nation.

Dr. Shirazi was an avid recruiter of new students for engineering programs from regional high schools, while serving as an assistant professor in the Civil Engineering Department at Morgan State University. She helped guide a very successful collegiate preparatory program for pre-college engineering students.

Dr. Shirazi has experience in multinational corporations, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and McDonnell-Douglas, with project management and design of engineering systems such as offshore oil platform structures, wide-body jet airplanes and hazardous waste and air quality environmental systems in countries around the world. This includes working with local, state and federal regulatory agencies and other firms. As an engineer in the oil industry, she travelled the world performing hands-on design and analysis work. In London, England she analyzed North Sea offshore platforms with finite element analysis and in Göteborg, Sweden she managed the study of a prototype offshore oil platform. In Kinshasa, Zaire she performed environmental water analyses at the height of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome crisis.

Dr. Shirazi is a licensed, professional civil engineer and has academic credentials that include a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Howard University, Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from the University of Tennessee, Doctorate of Science in Environmental and Engineering Management from The George Washington University, and executive graduate leadership training from the Institute for Educational Management at Harvard University.