Former engineering dean Wilbur Meier dies

Wilbur Meier Jr., former dean of the Penn State College of Engineering, died on Monday, Oct. 13, at the age of 69, in Raleigh, N.C.

Meier was engineering dean at Penn State from 1981 to 1987. Under Meier's leadership, the college created its first comprehensive strategic plan. The proposal focused on expanding research and graduate studies and made fundraising a priority.

Through the implementation of a tuition surcharge during the 1985-86 academic year, Meier made substantial improvements to the laboratories and equipment used by undergraduate students. As part of the tuition surcharge plan, a committee of faculty and students were appointed to help make recommendations on how the new funds were to be spent. Meier also made sure that any equipment purchased with tuition surcharge money was labeled as such.

Meier also implemented enrollment controls in engineering to help boost admission standards to the college. His efforts slowly decreased enrollment from 6,986 students in fall 1989 to 6,499 five years later.

Before coming to Penn State, Meier served on the faculty at Texas A&M University, chaired the industrial engineering department at Iowa State University and was the head of the industrial engineering school at Purdue University.

He left Penn State in 1987 to become chancellor of the University of Houston System. Meier's subsequent positions also included director of the National Science Foundation's Division of Engineering Infrastructure Development and dean of engineering at North Carolina State University.

At the time of his death, he was a professor of industrial engineering at North Carolina State.

Meier earned his bachelor of science, master of science and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests included lean manufacturing and production, manufacturing strategy, manufacturing systems, planning and systems engineering.

He was heavily involved with industry, working with companies such as Black & Decker, Nokia, Easton, Square D, Data General and most recently ABB.

Meier was a past president, life member and fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers. He was a fellow in the American Society of Engineering Educators, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and the World Academy of Productivity Sciences.

His other honors include the Bliss Medal from the Society of American Military Engineers, the 2000 International Education Award from SME and being named a Distinguished Graduate of the College of Engineering at the University of Texas.