Colorado School of Mines selects Timothy Barbari as new graduate dean

Colorado School of Mines has named Timothy A. Barbari its new dean of graduate studies.

A Mines alumnus, Barbari will join his alma mater this summer from Boston University, where he currently serves as a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Division of Materials Science & Engineering and previously held the position of associate provost for graduate affairs.

As graduate dean, Barbari will be responsible for institution-wide leadership in graduate education and graduate student scholarship, including efforts to evaluate, improve and define a distinctive graduate student experience, support and develop practices and processes that improve graduate student outcomes, provide leadership in program development and advocacy, and ensure the overall academic quality of graduate programs.

“We are excited for Tim to join Mines as our new dean of graduate studies,” Mines Provost Richard C. Holz said. “As an alumnus who understands exactly what makes Mines so special and as an experienced graduate education administrator, Tim is the right person to help lead our efforts to create a distinctive graduate student experience at Mines. Previous graduate deans at Mines have served part time in the role, but Tim’s appointment is full-time – and an investment in the importance of graduate studies to our MINES@150 institutional goals.”

A member of the Class of 1980, Barbari graduated from Mines with a bachelor’s degree in chemical and petroleum refining engineering. He earned an MS in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, then spent two years working in the oil and gas industry before returning to academia to earn a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to joining Boston University in 2012, Barbari spent six years at Georgetown University, where he served as associate provost for research and dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 2006 to 2011 and held faculty appointments in the Department of Physics and the School of Foreign Service. He has also held academic and administrative roles in the schools of engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park (1999-2006) and Johns Hopkins University (1987-1999).

At BU, Barbari oversaw 15 schools and colleges offering graduate programs, designing and implementing a full-funding model for PhD students with a uniform stipend level across all disciplines and a five-year commitment of support, as well as a tuition revenue-sharing formula to incentivize growth of existing graduate programs and the development of new ones.

“We are delighted to have Tim accept our graduate dean position,” said Michael Kaufman, vice provost for graduate and research initiatives at Mines. “He brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles at a number of Tier 1 institutions and we anticipate him being critical to enabling us to grow and enhance our existing and new graduate programs and our graduate student experiences.”

At Mines, Barbari will also oversee the operations of the Office of Graduate Studies, which provides academic and administrative support to Mines graduate programs and the graduate student community. He will hold a faculty appointment in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

“As a Colorado native, returning to the state has always been in the back of my mind and I am thrilled to be able to do that and to give back to my alma mater at the same time,” Barbari said. “Mines enjoys a really strong reputation in engineering education and I’m looking forward to bolstering its footprint at the graduate level. Now is an opportune time to leverage what we already have, build upon our research reputation and create new and innovative programs that meet the needs of students and industry.”