After 36 years of service to Johns Hopkins University, Allan Bjerkaas, the Whiting School of Engineering’s associate dean for Engineering for Professionals (EP), retired this fall.
Bjerkaas began his career at Johns Hopkins in 1973 at the Applied Physics Laboratory, where he was a project manager and later a group supervisor. By the mid-1970s, he began teaching in the Engineering School’s part-time graduate programs and in 2001 was named the associate dean for Engineering and Applied Science Programs for Professionals (now EP).
Under Bjerkaas’ leadership, EP grew to become the nation’s largest provider of part-time engineering graduate programs, now enrolling over 2,000 students annually in 15 master’s and certificate programs. His understanding of the needs of professional engineers, knowledge of the marketplace, ability to create partnerships with industry, and his unwavering commitment to excellence have been critical to EP’s success and the program’s ability to attract highly accomplished faculty and top students.
“Allan’s accomplishments are far-reaching and will continue to have an impact on the school for years to come,” says Dean Nick Jones. “His retirement, while certainly well deserved, is a real loss to all of us.”