April 26, 2011
Baltimore, MD - ABET announced today that Joseph L. Sussman, Ph.D., will become the Managing Director for Accreditation, effective May 2, 2011. In this position, Dr. Sussman will lead ABET's accreditation operations, collaborating closely with its senior leadership to design future accreditation policies and processes on a global scale. He will be ABET's principal interface to academic institutions, accrediting agencies, and ABET's volunteer leadership.
Dr. Sussman succeeds Dr. Robert Fredell, who has served in this position over the past year. Dr. Fredell is stepping down to attend to pressing family matters and leaves the position having begun several major improvement projects in accreditation processes, including automation of the accreditation final statement and program self-study processes.
"We're going to miss Rob," said ABET Executive Director, Dr. Michael Milligan, "But we fully understand his difficult choice and give him our absolute best wishes and full support. Rob is both an esteemed colleague and a friend of ABET, and he will remain as such to all of us in the ABET community."
A long-standing ABET volunteer and leader, Dr. Joe Sussman was President of ABET during the 2008-09 year. He has served in nearly every volunteer capacity with ABET, from program evaluator to commissioner, representative on the Board of Directors, and ABET President. Dr. Sussman was an active and key participant in the Engineering Criteria 2000 study and implementation. He brings to this position a professional background as an engineer and business executive that spans a broad spectrum of technology applications, including quality, manufacturing, and IT systems.
Dr. Sussman's career began as an engineer at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory and continued through his service in engineering, R&D, and product development roles at firms such as Singer and Smith-Corona. Following these, Dr. Sussman had a long and successful tenure at Bayer AG, working at both divisional and corporate level in a series of global roles of increasing responsibilities and a steady stream of promotions. Most recently, he has been a Consultant & Specialist Leader at Deloitte Consulting.
"We are very fortunate to have Dr. Joe Sussman, one of the accreditation industry's more experienced leaders, join us on the ABET headquarters staff to lead our accreditation operations," said Dr. Milligan. "Joe has an impressive background of success in his professional career, and the enormous contributions he has already made to accreditation and to the ABET community are just as impressive. We very much look forward to the accreditation improvements that Joe's leadership will help us achieve."
About ABET
ABET, the recognized accreditor for college and university programs in applied science, computing, engineering, and technology, is a federation of 31 professional and technical societies representing these fields. Among the most respected accreditation organizations in the U.S., ABET has provided leadership and quality assurance in higher education for more than 75 years.
ABET currently accredits over 3,100 programs at more than 600 colleges and universities worldwide. More than 2,000 dedicated volunteers participate annually in ABET activities. ABET also provides leadership internationally through workshops, memoranda of understanding, and mutual recognition agreements, such as the Washington Accord. ABET is recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.