ME chair Winer retires after 38 years at Tech

A lot has changed at Tech and in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering since Ward Winer began in 1969 as an associate professor. After nearly 20 years as chair of the school and having played a significant part in those changes, he has announced his retirement, effective upon the selection of a replacement.

"[The school has] changed tremendously, from [having] a reasonably outstanding undergraduate education program, to being a school noted for an excellent undergraduate program but also excellent graduate programs," Winer said.

A comparison of the school's placement in the U.S. News and World Report rankings plainly shows this rise in reputation.

"In the early 1970s the school was ranked somewhere between No. 27 and No. 50 among ME graduate programs, and it is now ranked No. 7, so that's a pretty spectacular rise in reputation, and it's obviously of great satisfaction to me and the faculty," Winer said. He credits the faculty of the school for making that rise happen.

"If you've got very good faculty you attract very good students. If you have very good students you have bright and successful alumni, and that's why the reputation has gone up a lot," Winer said.

Over the course of Winer's career the way the campus looks has changed too, and not just on account of all the new buildings that have been constructed.

"When I came in 1969 there were very few women on campus and very few minorities on campus. Now Georgia Tech and [the School of] Mechanical Engineering in particular are among the largest producers of degrees among women and minorities in their particular areas," he said.

Winer credits the endowment of the department with playing a big role in its growth.

"Currently we have an endowment that's probably on the order of $110 million. That's pretty unusual for an academic department, and the money that that generates each year causes us to be able to do special things such as offering grants to top graduate students to get them to be able to come here," Winer said.

The number of faculty in the school has gone up sharply as well. Winer said when he began there were approximately 30 faculty in the school; now there are 80 academic faculty, 21 research faculty, and five academic professionals.

He had originally intended to retire in May but he agreed to stay until a replacement could be found, which he hopes will be before the end of the summer.

Winer has a long list of activities he plans to pursue with the all the free time he will now have, including playing tournament bridge with his wife, who he says is a much better player than he is, as well as sailing and learning to play the bagpipes.

"I"ve been asking around and talked to a couple of music teachers but I haven't found anybody who gives lessons yet. I'd probably have to go into a closet to practice because my wife might chase me out of the house," he said.