environment in which our faculty don’t
teach topics. They teach students.
”
Gary A. Gabriele, ph.d.
DROSDICK ENDOWED DEAN OF ENGINEERING
When Gary Gabriele built his first Soap Box
Derby car as a kid, he had no idea that he was
sowing the seeds for his life’s work. The
competition requires participants to build their
own lean-forward style cars, leveraging gravity
and their design skills to produce fleet vehicles
with low wind resistance. Today, recalling the
exhilaration of his foray into engineering, he
shapes the lives of budding engineers by
offering them similar opportunities.
From industry to the National Science
Foundation to academia, Gabriele’s career has
encompassed achievements in engineering
design, policy and scholarship. Though he has
served in a variety of high-profile positions,
he remains a dedicated teacher at heart.
“I enjoy my leadership role in the College of
Engineering, but the most special part for me
is still teaching,” Gabriele says. “There’s
nothing more rewarding than bringing a young
person along and helping him or her grow.”
The joy of teaching attracted Gabriele to
the deanship at Villanova in 2006. “I saw that
Villanova was unusual in its focus on the
development of each student as a whole
person, in all areas of life,” he remembers.
“The Augustinian tradition provides an
environment in which our faculty don’t teach
topics. They teach students.”
This tradition is alive not only in the College’s
technologically-demanding curriculum, but in
its outreach programs with the School District
of Philadelphia, as well as middle and high
schools around the region, including the annual
Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology
Robotics Competition. With Gabriele’s support,
Villanova engineering sophomores work with
teams of public school students, mentoring
them as they design and build radio-controlled
robots. The teams—using only a starter kit—
have six weeks to create robots that can
accomplish defined tasks. It is a challenge
reminiscent of Gabriele’s Derby competitions,
and exposes students to educational and
career possibilities in engineering.
Looking ahead, Gabriele is focused on the
College’s strategic priorities, including
increasing student diversity to significantly
exceed national levels. “We want to address
the national shortage of engineers, particularly
by increasing the historically low number of
women and minorities in engineering,” says
Gabriele. “Girls and minority students have
been steered away from the pursuit of mathematics and engineering for far too long. Part of
our mission—as an academic institution and
an Augustinian campus—is to change this.”
The College is already on the right track. The
incoming undergraduate class is 32 percent
women, almost double the national average
of 18 percent. In 2010, the College will become
one of only a handful of engineering schools
nationwide to host the three-week Leadership
Education and Development program, which
introduces talented minority students to
engineering schools and careers.
Gabriele and his wife, Cindy, have encouraged
their own four daughters to follow their
dreams, as well — including their eldest, who is
a professor of biomedical engineering.
