Gregory L. Fenves

Gregory L. Fenves is President of Emory University. He joined Emory from The University of Texas as Austin.

During a 12-year tenure at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, President Fenves made an enormous impact. Under his leadership, the university recruited world-class faculty while retaining an impressive network of current faculty, broadened cross-disciplinary research, and significantly increased extramural research funding. As president of one of the largest doctoral-granting universities in the nation, Fenves strengthened graduate education and resources. Forty-eight graduate programs at the university are now ranked in the top 10 nationally.

Fenves earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree and PhD from the University of California (UC), Berkeley, all in civil engineering.

He began his academic career as an assistant professor in UT Austin’s civil engineering department in 1984. In 1988, Fenves returned to UC Berkeley, where he was on the faculty for 20 years and became an internationally renowned expert on structural engineering for earthquakes. Fenves was chair of UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is still ranked number one in the nation. He returned to UT Austin in 2008 to become dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering. Subsequent to his successful tenure as dean, Fenves was recruited to the position of provost at UT Austin in 2013 and in 2015 was appointed president.

For his groundbreaking research in earthquake engineering and academic leadership, Fenves was elected in 2014 to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest recognition for an engineer in the United States. He has received numerous national awards, including the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation, the Walter L. Huber Research Prize, the Moisseiff Award, and the J. James R. Croes Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Fenves is married to Carmel Martinez Fenves, a textile artist and former small business owner. They have two adult daughters, a son-in-law, and one granddaughter, all of whom live in Austin.