Meet the Provost: Dr. David J. Russomanno

The University of Memphis Board of Trustees approved the appointment of Dr. David J. Russomanno as the UofM’s next Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost on March 20, 2023. Russomanno, a former UofM faculty member, began the position on July 1, 2023.

Previously, Russomanno served as dean of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at Indiana University — Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) since 2010. In that role, his responsibilities included overseeing four research centers of excellence and seven academic departments with 21 undergraduate and 13 graduate degree programs. During his tenure as dean the School of Engineering and Technology set numerous all-time records. Those records included undergraduate, graduate, out-of-state, international, and underrepresented student enrollment, extramural contract and grant awards, invention disclosures and patents, start-up companies launched, degrees granted, national rankings achieved, faculty awards, and most importantly, advancing many student success and satisfaction metrics.

Russomanno has also served as a professor in many capacities. He was a tenured professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at IUPUI, a graduate faculty professor in the Purdue University Graduate School and an adjunct professor in the Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering.

Russomanno was part of a leadership team that oversaw the historic realignment of IUPUI in which he co-led the Purdue University, W. Lafayette (PWL)—IUPUI Realignment Academic Working Groups and Research Group to provide recommendations for the realignment and merger of the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI with PWL resulting in Purdue in Indianapolis as a fully integrated campus of PWL, effective July 1, 2024.

Russomanno joined the UofM as a tenure-track assistant professor in 1993 after working for Pratt and Whitney Aircraft, Michelin Tire, and Intergraph Corporation as an engineer. He previously held several administrative and faculty positions at the UofM including department chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Herff College of Engineering (2004-10) and Computer Engineering program coordinator (1999-04). Also at UofM, he held the R. Eugene Smith Professorship, received the Herff College Outstanding Faculty Research Award, Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award, and was a Founding Fellow of the FedEx Institute of Technology.

Russomanno’s honors include the Indiana University Bicentennial Medal, awarded in 2019 for broadening the reach of IU around the state, nation and world, as well as the IUPUI Chancellor’s Medallion awarded in 2023, recognizing vision, character, high achievement, and distinguished service.

Russomanno’s research expertise is in intelligent sensors and supporting software infrastructure; knowledge representation and inference, including data and knowledge visualization; software engineering; logic programming applications; and geographic information systems (GIS). He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering and a Master of Engineering in electrical and computer engineering, both from the University of South Carolina. He earned a bachelor of electrical engineering (B.E.E.) from Auburn University.