Trine professors promoted

Deller, Sharma, Shannon, Batson move up

 

Trine University Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. David Finley has announced the promotions of four professors.

Dr. Jean Deller, assistant Vice President for Program Development and Assessment and a professor in the Franks School of Education, has been promoted from associate to full professor. Deller has served the university in many capacities, including dean of the Trine University School of Professional Studies and Assistant Vice President for Graduate Studies.

Dr. VK Sharma, dean of Allen School of Engineering & Technology and interim dean of the Ketner School of Business, has been promoted from associate to full professor. Sharma joined Trine in 2008 as business school dean, and moved to the position of dean of the engineering school in the past year. He has over 35 years of technical and business experience in the commercial vehicle industry and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers International and the American Society for Metals International.

Dr. John Shannon, dean of the Jannen School of Arts & Sciences, has been promoted from associate to full professor. He came to Trine in 2007 after 13 years working and living in the Middle East and then spending another three as dean of an American Arabic school. He joined the new University of Sharjah in Dubai as an English teacher in 1997, becoming chair of the Intensive English Language Department, and then served as dean of the School of Arabic in the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif.

Dr. Brett Batson, a professor in the Wade Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, has been promoted from assistant to associate professor. Dr. Batson came to Trine in 2006, and teaches courses in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, measurements and gas turbines. He has earned the university’s McKetta Excellence in Teaching Award. Before coming to Trine, he worked for Compressor Controls Corporation in Des Moines, Iowa, taught as an adjunct at Iowa State and was a technical consultant for a Des Moines law firm.