Department Chair: Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, MU/MCW - Milwaukee, WI

[Karen Kruger]

Founding Chair
Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering
Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin

Marquette University (MU) and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) have created a Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering and now invite applications and nominations for the position of Founding Chairperson. The new department offers an exciting and unique opportunity for the founding chair to forge the engineering research and education expertise of MU with the medical research, technology and clinical expertise of MCW to create an inclusive research and education model that promotes discovery and innovation and trains the next generation of engineers, scientists and physicians.


MU is a comprehensive university with a tradition of excellence in engineering and research collaboration with MCW. The Biomedical Engineering Program was established in 1968 and became a Department in 1990. The Department promoted growth of research and education with recognized programs in orthopaedics, rehabilitation engineering, medical imaging, cardiopulmonary modeling, device development, informatics and computational biology. MCW is a national leader in medical research and ranks in the top third of US medical schools with $158M in extramural research funding. Areas of research strength include genomics, imaging, cancer, cardiovascular research, neurosciences and injury research. It has 1500 faculty and 1250 medical and graduate students. The long term, productive collaboration between MU and MCW had previously culminated in the formation of joint degree programs in Functional Imaging (PhD), Healthcare Technology Management (MS) and Bioinformatics (MS). The new joint department offers BS, MS, ME and PhD degrees, currently has over 350 undergraduate students and 50 graduate students and in 7 years is projected to enroll more than 523 students across all degrees with the greatest growth in Masters and PhD disciplines.

The vision is to develop an internationally recognized, highly ranked department that leverages the existing strengths of MU and MCW and the resources of the two institutions to invest in growth and excellence in research and education. The Founding Chair will have a unique opportunity to build this new department and leverage the combined resources of two distinguished institutions, including the recruitment of 10 tenure-track faculty members to expand the department into strategic programmatic areas within biomedical engineering. MU and MCW have committed space, research infrastructure and competitive recruitment packages to the joint department.


MU and MCW seek an outstanding, dynamic leader with a distinguished scholarly record in research and education, an externally funded research program and national visibility in biomedical engineering consistent with appointment to the rank of Professor. Applicants with experience leading an academic unit in a university or medical center or an industrial unit, a record of advancing innovation and institutional-wide collaboration, appreciation of and commitment to diversity, inclusion and shared governance and the ability to enhance student learning for the 21st century are encouraged to apply. More information about the MU-MCW Department of Biomedical Engineering and a full position description can be found at: http://mcw.marquette.edu/biomedical-engineering/.


Applications, nominations and expressions of interest should include a CV and cover letter describing professional background, qualifications and vision for the department and should be sent via email to Marquette-MCW-BMEChair@wittkieffer.com. The position will remain open until filled, but candidate materials should be received as soon as possible but no later than October 7, 2016 to ensure full consideration. The recruitment will be conducted in confidence until finalists are selected at which time professional references will be requested and contacted.


Marquette University and the Medical College of Wisconsin are Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employers of women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities and encourage applications from these and other protected group members.