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Parks College Names First Director of New School of Engineering

03/15/2018

Gary Bledsoe, Ph.D., has been named the first director of the newly formed School of Engineering within Saint Louis University’s Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology. His appointment is effective July 1, 2018.

Gary Bledsoe, Ph.D.
Gary Bledsoe, Ph.D.

As part of the ongoing academic reinvention initiatives that began last year, the four separate engineering departments in Parks College are being reorganized into a single school of engineering to be overseen by Bledsoe beginning July 1. All of the programs will remain intact.

The college will continue to offer undergraduate degrees in aerospace, biomedical, civil, computer, electrical and mechanical engineering in addition to engineering physics, physics and aeronautics. Graduate programs will be unaffected.

The new model will promote interdisciplinary collaboration across all the branches of engineering and enhance the college’s efforts to address society’s most vexing problems through both academics and research.

Bledsoe is currently the chair of the Department of biomedical engineering in Parks College, a role he has held since July 1, 2016. Bledsoe has been at Saint Louis University since 1999 and served in various roles within the College.

“I am thrilled that Dr. Bledsoe will be assuming this important role,” Dean Michelle Sabick, Ph.D., said. “He is the right person to help guide the formation of the school and set it off on the right path. I know Gary has a deep understanding of our college’s unique history and a vision for its future. He will do an excellent job helping us define how we can deliver a uniquely Jesuit engineering education at Saint Louis University as we begin our tenth decade as a college.”

As a researcher, Bledsoe is interested in orthopaedic biomechanics and leads the Interfacial Biomaterials/Biomechanics Lab on SLU’s campus which focuses on the healing phenomena that typically occur at a tissue material interface

“I am honored to be the inaugural director of the School of Engineering at Parks College,” said Bledsoe. “We have known that Parks produces excellent graduates for years. I look forward to working to raise the visibility and profile of SLU’s engineering programs.”

Bledsoe holds three degrees in engineering – a doctorate in engineering from The University of Memphis, a master’s degree in biomedical engineering also from The University of Memphis, and a bachelor’s in electrical engineering technology from the University of Tennessee.


Saint Louis University’s Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology has a worldwide reputation for research-inspired, project-based education in engineering and aviation. Founded in 1927 as the first federally recognized flight school, Parks College has a rich history of creating well-rounded leaders in aviation and engineering fields. The college also has become a leader in the aerospace, biomedical, civil, computer, electrical, mechanical and other engineering disciplines, including engineering physics.