Dr. Faris Malhas, a professor and dean of the Leonard C. Nelson College of Engineering and Sciences at
West Virginia University-Institute of Technology, has been named dean of Bowling Green State
University’s College of Technology, effective June 15.
The departments of architecture and environmental design, construction management, engineering
technologies, and visual communication and technology education comprise the College of Technology.
Malhas has been a university administrator for the last 13 years while maintaining his professional
engineering practice. He has helped establish new graduate and undergraduate programs at three
institutions.
"He shares the college’s commitment to facilitating possibilities for our students to develop as
professionals, which is vital in each of the college’s disciplines," BGSU Provost Dr. Kenneth
Borland said. "Dr. Malhas is ready to lead the College of Technology toward the new horizon of
integrated science, technology and engineering education, research and professions."
His salary will be $178,500 with a five-year contract.
At WVU, Malhas oversees nine academic departments with 15 bachelor’s degrees and one master’s degree. Six
of the programs are in technology. As dean, he has led several successful accreditation processes for
the college’s various divisions and helped promote student recruitment, which resulted in a 20 percent
increase in new student enrollment last fall. He also helped to secure $2.8 million for clean energy
research and establish a Center of Excellence in Energy at WVU.
"I feel that I have the skills and the background to really develop the College of Technology’s
great untapped potential and be part of the team to help take it to the next level both in national
reputation and as a contributor to the region’s economy," Malhas said. "I can see many, many
good things for the college and the region."
From 2005-09, Malhas was chairperson of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Dayton,
where he oversaw three academic disciplines comprising undergraduate and graduate programs. While there,
he led the effort to develop a graduate certificate program in construction management.
From 2000-05, he served as founding coordinator of the Civil Engineering Program at the University of
North Florida, building the program from the ground up and coordinating its successful accreditation.

Malhas has 23 years’ experience and education in engineering technology and construction education, both
in the United States and the Middle East. The co-author of several books, his primary interests have
been in structural behavior and design of steel and concrete structures. He was elected last fall as a
Fellow of the American Concrete Institute.
"As an engineering educator, I am interested in innovative global engineering that responds to the
engineering challenges of the modern world," he said.
He has a Ph.D. in civil engineering and a master’s degree in engineering mechanics, both from the
University of Wisconsin; bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of
Michigan; and a pre-engineering degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.