UW Remembers Denice Denton

"She was a remarkable leader."
  - UW President Mark Emmert

Colleagues at the University of Washington remember Denice Denton not only for her fierce passions and transformational leadership, but for her ready wit, warmth and compassion. Her legacy, they say, lies in an entire generation of faculty, staff and students inspired by her vision and commitment.

Denice, who was dean of the UW College of Engineering from 1996 to 2005, died June 24 in an apparent suicide.

Many of her colleagues at the UW say her enduring legacy will be in the students and faculty, especially women and minorities, for whom the doors of opportunity in science and engineering were thrown open wider.

"Denice was an inspirational and transformational leader for the College of Engineering, with a strong focus on developing people to achieve their fullest potential," said Professor Mani Soma. "Besides her impact on the national scene, she left an indelible legacy in our college: promoting and achieving diversity among our students and faculty, enhancing engineering education, and raising the quality of our programs."

"Denice really cared about students," said Ana Mari Cauce, executive vice provost. "She felt strongly about the need to educate more students in science, math, engineering and technology – and that our failure to nurture women in these fields compromised our country's competitiveness. She was also very committed to social justice issues – particularly for ethnic minorities, gays and lesbians, immigrants, international students and faculty."

Denice was the first woman to become dean of a major research university. Before coming to the UW 1996, she was at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 1987, leaving as professor of electrical and computer engineering and of chemistry. See a longer biography.

"Her contributions to UW-Madison were extraordinary and her positive influence on public higher education extended far beyond the campuses where she served," said UW-Madison chancellor John D. Wiley. Read more UW-Madison comments.

Denice's strong focus in her time at Washington was on ensuring access to education in engineering, science and math for all students. She became a national leader and spokesperson on this issue. Among the programs that flourished at the UW:

• PRIME, a National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored program in which UW graduate students worked with K-12 students and teachers in creating new models for science education.
• The Center for Engineering Learning and Teaching (CELT), which aims to describe in detail the optimal learning environments and teaching strategies for promoting student learning and improving the quality of engineering education at the UW. This program, the first of its kind in the country, became a national model for helping all students learn but especially for achieving progress in learning among women and under-represented minorities.
• The Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education (CAEE), a five-university, NSF-funded center dedicated to engineering education research. The goals of CAEE are to understand the engineering student learning experience, investigate the needs of diverse faculty and students, expand the community of leaders, and promote effective teaching in engineering education. Colleagues from the UW, Colorado School of Mines, Howard University, Stanford University and the University of Minnesota are working together to meet these goals.
• ADVANCE, a program for mentoring academia's future leaders in mathematics, science and engineering, with a focus on women and minorities.

In honor of Denice's work in working with diverse populations, she received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2004. She received the Maria Mitchell Women in Science Award in 2006 for her work in developing programs at universities and with neighboring organizations to encourage women and girls to study science, technology, engineering and math. She also was a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Despite a fulltime administrative load, Denice found time to teach a special Engineering 100 course which paired UW students with their counterparts at Tohoku University in Japan in pursuing a joint research project. She also met personally with every faculty candidate and worked tirelessly, once a hiring decision was made, to ensure the success of that individual in both teaching and research.

Denice was well-regarded among her fellow deans. "Denice was a hard working, bright, generous, courageous colleague," said Pat Wasley, dean of the College of Education. "She was incredibly committed to working on education and was clear that we all needed to be working on the preK-12 achievement gap issues. She sought out colleagues from the College of Education as collaborators in improving learning in engineering. She worked with us to recruit underrepresented minorities and to design projects for public schools around math and science education. She was an excellent mentor to me when I arrived as a new dean at the University of Washington, and was always available to help me understand how things work on our campus and to work with me to think through important goals and aspirations. Her death is a tremendous loss."

The UW's incoming Engineering dean, Matt O'Donnell, said, "Denice Denton was a true leader and friend to the College of Engineering and UW. Her achievements were countless, but she will best be remembered for her vision, integrity, and backbone. This is a great loss for our community. We will miss her."

"Denice's legacy to her colleagues and friends will be the commitment we share to ensuring access to higher education," says Judy Mahoney, assistant dean of development and external relations. "Her unending passion for this issue, and her efforts that made the College of Engineering a welcoming, successful place for students, faculty and staff will continue through the programs she created and the individuals she mentored. Denice had a brilliant mind, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a great sense of humor. She created a culture where the near-impossible seemed possible. It was a privilege to work with her and for her."

Aside from her numerous academic accomplishments, Denice was known by her friends as an individual of great warmth and wit. "She had an irreverent and dry sense of humor," said Cauce. "She loved Latin and African music, loved dogs, and threw a great party!"

"Denice led a full life with all the joys and heartaches that accompany 'larger than life' individuals," said Betty Schmitz, director of the Center for Curriculum Transformation. "Her brilliant mind craved new problems to solve and new ways of negotiating intractable issues. She read voraciously all manner of books. She could belt out a country western tune with the best of them. There has never been nor will there ever be anyone like her.

"Denice loved her border collies. Whenever she left the house, she would say, 'Kazu, take care of Billie; Billie, take care of Kazu.' Denice has left the house, so let’s take care of each other."

- Bob Roseth, UW News & Information