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Warwick Appoints Next Vice-Chancellor

Professor VandeLinde
Professor VandeLinde
Originally published 7 November 2000

The University of Warwick has appointed Professor David VandeLinde as its next Vice-Chancellor. Professor VandeLinde joins Warwick from the University of Bath where he has been Vice-Chancellor since 1992.

Professor VandeLinde was born and educated in the US, training in electrical engineering at Carnegie-Mellon and developing his academic career at The Johns Hopkins University. In 1978 he became the founding Dean of the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins which, under his leadership, became recognised as one of the top engineering schools in the US.

During the 8 years that Professor VandeLinde has been Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath its reputation has grown rapidly. Bath has become a top-ten university in the three main university league tables and is ranked 6 out of 100 British universities in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise.

Commenting on his appointment Professor VandeLinde said:

"I am very excited about being named the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Warwick. Warwick is now well established within the UK's "Ivy League" and I look forward to the opportunity and challenge both professionally and personally to lead Warwick in becoming recognised as a world-class research university."

"At the same time, it was a difficult decision for me to leave The University of Bath where I served as Vice-Chancellor for over 8 years. I feel however that I accomplished what I set out to do at Bath and will leave the university in a position of strength, well entrenched in the top ten rankings of the major UK league tables."

Rhys Williams, Chairman of the Council, welcomed Professor VandeLinde's appointment saying:

"Higher education in the UK stands at a cross-roads. Universities face many challenges over the next five years: we need to find new sources of income, build Warwick's reputation as a truly international institution and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities for teaching and research from the IT revolution. The University of Warwick is extremely fortunate to have appointed David VandeLinde to guide us through these challenges, a man with more than 20 years senior management experience in British and American universities."


The decision to appoint Professor VandeLinde as Vice-Chancellor of Warwick was unanimously approved by the University's Council and Senate on Tuesday 7 November 2000. Professor VandeLinde will take up the appointment in August 2001 and succeeds Sir Brian Follett who steps down in April. Professor Stuart Palmer, current Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Physics Department at Warwick, will be acting Vice-Chancellor in the interim period.

University of Bath's Release on this story

Link to University of Bath web site

Further information about this press release and other media services at the University of Warwick can be obtained from:

Peter Dunn, Press Officer
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL
West Midlands
Tel: 024 76 523708
Email: puapjd@warwick.ac.uk