ITEM 127-2001-0505
May 19-20, 2005
ITEM 127-2001-0505 Authorization to Confer the Title of Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering upon Victor Gerez; Montana State University-Bozeman
THAT: Upon the occasion of the retirement of Victor Gerez from the faculty of Montana State University, the Board of Regents wishes to express its appreciation for his service to the University, the Montana University System, and the people of the State of Montana.
EXPLANATION: After receiving his Master of Science (1969) and Doctor of Philosophy (1972) degrees from the University of California-Berkeley, Dr. Gerez served as Lecturer, then later Professor in the School of Engineering, National University of Mexico. He was chairman of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, National University of Mexico, from 1973 - 1976, then Director of the Power System Division, Institute of Electrical Research, Mexico, from 1977 - 1983. He is a registered professional engineer.
Dr. Gerez began his employment at Montana State University, Department of Electrical Engineering, in the fall term 1983 as Associate Professor and was promoted to full professor just one year later, in September 1984. He continued in a leadership role by serving 12 years as department head of Electrical and Computer Engineering, from 1984 through 1996. During a sabbatical leave in 1996-97, he held a visiting professor position at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, that enabled him to explore electrical power systems including governmental regulatory policies.
During his 21 years of service in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Montana State University, Dr. Gerez has worked with a variety of graduate students and colleagues on research projects related to electrical generation and he has taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate electrical engineering classes from circuits and electronics, to advanced topics in electric power machines and power system dynamics. In addition to these engineering classes, he has been a consistent contributor to the MSU core education component by teaching college seminar classes on a regular basis.
During his service as department head, Dr. Gerez helped plan and establish the modern electrical power laboratory when the Engineering/Physical Sciences Building was being designed in the early to mid 1990s, including helping to obtain major industry donations for equipping that laboratory for undergraduate student hands on learning. He has taught many classes with laboratory sections that have used that facility to learn engineering concepts of electrical power. He has worked effectively with regional industry, including helping organize a partnership of electrical power companies led by him and other MSU researchers that was particularly active during the 1990s. He has published research results for international conferences and in professional journals, is a senior member of IEEE (the professional Electrical Engineering society), served as chairman of the IEEE Montana Section in 1984-85, and is a member of four other professional engineering organizations. He has also served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, and technical book reviewer for Prentice Hall book publisher.
For these and other contributions, the Board of Regents of Higher Education is pleased to confer upon Victor Gerezthe rank of Professor Emeritus of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Montana State University and wishes him well for many years in the future.