Honorary Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters

Dionissios N. Assanis

Internationally recognized scholar and educator, you hold a bachelor’s degree from Newcastle University in England as well three master’s degrees and a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You hold five patents, have directed more than $100 million in research grants and contracts, and were inducted into the National Academy of Engineers. You are known worldwide for your expertise in the field of internal combustion engines, fuels, and energy. You had a distinguished 17-year career at the University of Michigan and then served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Inspiring and accomplished leader, you assumed the presidency of the University of Delaware in June 2016. Since that time, you have set about transforming the institution and its campus, always keeping academic excellence and student success at the heart of all you sought to achieve. Your impact can be seen in every corner of the University.

Major accomplishments of your tenure include improving four-year graduation rates to among the highest in the country when compared with our peer institutions and increasing financial aid by more than 95 percent. You have led the University to new levels of excellence in research, scholarship, and innovation, with research expenditures increasing more than 160 percent. You spearheaded an effort to increase significantly the number of faculty members and launched the Graduate College and the Honors College.

The development of the Science, Technology, and Advanced Research Campus may be the most visible of campus developments during your presidency, but it is by far the only achievement. The University also boasts a new interdisciplinary science center and the new Whitney Athletic Center as well as upgrades to Delaware Stadium; renovations to classrooms, laboratories, and performance spaces; and the transformation of the historic Green. All of this was made possible through unprecedented fundraising and engagement campaigns.

You are moving on from the University at the end of June, but your legacy of purpose-driven, positive change will long endure. Therefore, under the authority of the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware, I have the honor of conferring on you, Dionissios N. Assanis, the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. In testimony thereof, I am pleased to present to you this diploma.

Terri L. Kelly
May 24, 2025