Faris Malhas feels equally at home in a college classroom or at a construction site. The new chair of civil and environmental engineering and engineering mechanics is enjoying a bit of both worlds as he settles into his office in the under-construction Kettering Labs.

After graduating from the University of Michigan with a master’s in civil engineering in 1978, Malhas worked as a structural engineer at the newly founded Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan.

"I was fresh out of college, and people were throwing blueprints at me," he said. But he learned quickly and pioneered the use of computer-aided structural design at the university.

Reinforced concrete is the building material of choice in the Middle East, and Malhas wanted to learn more about the behavior and design of concrete structures. In pursuing his Ph.D., Malhas studied with one of the leading structural engineering educators in the United States, Charles Salmon. Malhas served as Salmon's teaching assistant for four years, earning a Ph.D. from Wisconsin in 1988.

"I wound up falling in love with teaching," Malhas said, laughing as he recalled that he entered the engineering field to avoid the career path of his parents, both teachers.

During his career, he has overseen the structural design of a 30-story office building, a mosque, a church and a high-rise apartment building – all irregular structures and architecturally challenging projects.

In summer 2005, Malhas was named chair of the civil engineering department at UD. The University of Dayton, he said, is "a national university with an engineering heritage that everyone knows about. A place like this allows you to dream more."

Malhas believes students will need to be educated differently and prepared for lifelong and online learning. Increasing diversity in the engineering field, providing opportunities for global learning and adapting the curriculum to reflect industry developments, such as the design build trend — where the same person serves as designer and contractor — are some of the challenges he sees.

"We cannot just hold on to the old paradigms. We have to make bold moves and take brave steps."

—Deborah McCarty Smith