White, Samuel G

2022 Distinguished Alumni Award

For leadership in broadening engineering education as the founding dean at two HBCUs.

Samuel Grandford White, Jr., is an engineer and educator; born in Anniston, AL in 1945.  He received his B.S. Electrical Engineering from Tuskegee Institute in 1967, his M.S. in 1970, and his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He married Sandra Kirby in 1968 and they have two children – Samuel Grandford, III and Sherri Christina.

Engineer | Westinghouse Electric, Baltimore, MD., 1967 – 68
Engineer | IBM, Lexington, KY, 1970 – 73
Instructor | Tuskegee University, 1973 – 74
Staff Engineer | IBM, Boulder, CO, 1978 – 82
Visiting Lecturer | University of CO, Boulder, 1979
Associate Professor and Chair, Electrical Engineering Department | North Carolina A & T, Greensboro, NC, 1982 -  85
Associate Professor and Chair of Engineering, Indiana U. Purdue U, Ft. Wayne, IN 1985 – 87
Technical Director, Sensor Systems Group, Magnavox Electronic Systems, Ft. Wayne, IN 1987 – 1990
Director of Technical Education, Magnavox, Ft, Wayne, IN 1990 – 93
EE Professor and Director of Institutional Research, Indiana Institute of Technology, Ft. Wayne, IN 1993
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Indiana Institute of Technology, Ft. Wayne, IN 1993 – 95
EE Professor and inaugural Dean, School of Engineering and Technology, Hampton University, Hampton, VA 1995 – 98
EE Professor and Founding Dean, School of Engineering, Jackson State Univ. , Jackson, MS. 1999 – 2001
Clinical Prof. of EE and Senior Advisor to the Dean, School of Engineering and Technology, Indiana U. Purdue U., Indianapolis, IN 2005 – 11.

Service:
Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), Program evaluator for the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), 1990 – 2016
Administration board of the IEEE educational society 1995 – 97
IEEE committee on Engineering Accreditation Activities, 1999 - 2009
Accreditation policy council (IEEE), 2005 – 06
National Research Council’s Ford Foundation’s pre doctorial panel, 1999
National Science Foundation program reviewer; Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, 2004 – 09
Indiana Univ. leadership development program, 2007
NASA minority resource advisory committee, 1996 – 2004

Dr. White was nominated by Illinois ECE emeritus faculty member, Dr. Preston Ransom.

Current as of 2022.