Mary Pile, who has served as the inaugural in Heath Integrated Business and Engineering Program (Heath IBEP), has announced her departure as head of the program, effective Friday, September 3.
She will be taking a new position at DeRoyal Industries, a biomedical manufacturing company for whom she had worked as an engineer for the better part of a decade before joining Heath IBEP.
“A few weeks ago, I had a lunch with a previous coworker to be a resource for her granddaughter as she started at UT,” said Pile. “A few weeks later, I received a job offer for a great opportunity at DeRoyal. I was able to choose the role I wanted, which coincidentally is in marketing and product development. This role flexibility is an example of some of the things we stress through Heath IBEP.”
She said that this particular opportunity piqued her interest because it involves her taking on a role that draws upon some of the same elements at the intersection of engineering and business as Heath IBEP.
Professor Rupy Sawhney and Associate Professor Russell Zaretzki, Heath Fellows in the Tickle College of Engineering and Haslam College of Business, respectively, will serve as interim co-directors. The two have plenty of experience, even having served as co-leaders of the program once before, while the search that resulted in Pile being made the first director was being conducted.
Pile will continue as an instructor for select Heath IBEP courses, which she said was on such secure ground that she could step away and feel that it would continue to thrive, pointing to the placement of the first two cohorts of students.
“I’m teaching the Haslam Leaders Professional Development course this semester and will still be involved in the program on a voluntary basis because I am committed to each of our students and to the success of the program,” said Pile. “I’m thankful for having had this opportunity, and I am excited to see the leaders our students all will become.”
Both Haslam College of Business Dean Stephen Mangum and Tickle College of Engineering Dean Matthew Mench remain steadfastly committed to the program, noting that it is “on solid grown and firm footing.”