Gregory Washington, the current dean at the University of California-Irvine’s engineering school, was announced as the second University of Minnesota provost candidate on Tuesday.

Washington is the second of four candidates for the executive vice president and provost position, and will be introduced to the University community at a public forum on Wednesday. Washington holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and Ph.D. from North Carolina State University focused around mechanical engineering. Washington then taught at Ohio State University in 1995, starting as an assistant professor. He worked at Ohio State for 16 years, ultimately rising to the role of interim dean of the engineering school.

As the current dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at Irvine, Washington led strategic planning efforts, a process currently underway at the University of Minnesota and one in which the next provost will be a major player. 

At Irvine, Washington also expanded the engineering school, creating partnerships with other schools in the system as well as research opportunities around the world in both the Middle East and China. 

Washington is the first African American to head any engineering school in the University of California system. 

The public forum is scheduled for Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at Northrop. The forum will be streamed online for those who cannot attend.

Antonio Dwayne Tillis was announced as the first provost candidate last week. Two more currently unnamed candidates will participate in public forums next week.

Dylan Anderson contributed to this report.