Dr. Jenna Carpenter

Biography

Dr. Jenna P. Carpenter is Founding Dean and Professor of the School of Engineering at Campbell University. She is also Immediate Past President of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), incoming President-Elect of the Mathematical Association of America, and a past president of WEPAN (Women in Engineering ProActive Network). Prior to Campbell, Dr. Carpenter was Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies, Director of the Office for Women in Science and Engineering, and Wayne and Juanita Spinks Endowed Professor in the College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech University, where she served on the faculty for 26 years.

Dr. Carpenter is a national expert and thought leader on issues impacting STEM education, innovative STEM curricula, as well as student success of diverse communities of students, faculty, and staff in STEM fields, particularly issues impacting the success of women. She has received over $4.5 million in federal funding and authored more than 150 publications and presentations. In demand as an international speaker, she is a Fellow of ASEE and an ABET Program Evaluator. She chaired for seven years as the Steering Committee for the National Academy of Engineering Grand Challenge Scholars Program. She also chaired the Pilot Program Ad-Hoc Committee for the Gulf Scholars Program for the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine.

Dr. Carpenter has received numerous awards, including the 2023 ABET Claire Felbinger Award for Diversity and Inclusion. She is a 2023 ASEE Hall of Fame Inductee, one of only 22 people recognized for contributions and impact to engineering education in the US over the last 35 years. Along with Drs. Yannis Yortsos, Rick Miller, and Tom Katsouleas, she is a co-recipient of the 2022 National Academy of Engineering Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Engineering Technology Education (considered the Nobel Prize for Engineering Education) for her role as a co-founder of the Grand Challenges Scholars Program. Dr. Carpenter was the recipient of the 2019 ASEE Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering Education, the 2018 WEPAN Founder’s Award, which honors a WEPAN member who has made a significant impact for the organization, as well as the 2013 WEPAN Distinguished Service Award. In 2015 DreamBox Learning selected Dr. Carpenter as one of 10 Women in STEM Who Rock! (the only academic among a list of CEOs, politicians and actresses) for her advocacy and her TEDx talk, “Engineering: Where are the Girls and Why Aren’t They Here?”