Tri-State University will welcome Dr. V.K. Sharma as Dean of the Ketner School of Business on Jan. 28, 2008.

Dr. Sharma brings over 35 years of industrial administrative, business and technical experience to TSU. He is director of engineering at the Truck Development and Technical Center of International Truck and Engine Corp. in Fort Wayne, Ind., where he has worked since 1973.

Before that, he worked at LaSalle Steel Co. in Hammond, Ind., as a research engineer, and taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. At International's corporate research laboratory in Chicago, he was involved in a variety of internal and National Science Foundation supported university/industry cooperative materials development and processing technology programs.

He  moved to Fort Wayne in 1983, and since then has been engaged in planning and directing the design, development, and validation of commercial vehicles, including leading the development of International’s Next Generation vehicles and the commercialization of hybrid trucks.

He has written over 20 technical papers and has served as an invited speaker for numerous national and international organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences and U.S. Department of Transportation Research Board.

He holds bachelor and master of science degrees in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan, respectively, a doctorate from IIT Chicago, and a master of business administration from the University of Chicago. He is an active member of SAE International, ASM International, the Materials Information Society, and ASTM International, originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).