Boston, April 5, 2006 – Wentworth Institute of Technology, a leading nationally accredited institution of higher learning that specializes in technical education, welcomed its new president, a Serbia-born physicist Dr. Zorica Pantic.
 Dr. Zorica Pantic is inaugurated as the fourth, and first female, president in Wentworth's century-long history and the only female engineer to lead an institute of technology in the U.S. She leads and manages efforts related to 3,600 students and 375 faculty and staff, and oversees the institute's operating budget of $70 million and endowment of $80 million.
During her 30 years in academia, Dr. Pantic has been an agent of change and a champion for excellence and diversity. As the engineering dean at the University of Texas at San Antonio (2001 - 2005), she spearheaded the university's efforts to become a flagship university in the state of Texas and a top-tier research university in the U.S. She developed three doctoral programs and one master's program, doubled the number of faculty, increased research funding tenfold to $7 million, and raised more than $5 million through strategic partnerships. As the director of the School of Engineering at San Francisco State University (1997 - 2001), she helped the school climb into the country's top 50 undergraduate programs and cooperated with fellow California State University engineering deans on a $10-million California Workforce Initiative.
Dr. Pantic's leadership has been recognized with honors and awards from numerous organizations including the 2003 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award by the San Antonio Women's Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Pantic earned her bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Nis in Serbia. |
