Jennifer Widom Named Dean of Stanford School of Engineering

She is a wonderful teacher. When the very first MOOCs were introduced, I took AI taught by Sebastian Thrun, Peter Norvig and Databases taught by Jennifer Widom. I could contrast the teaching style of these experts. Jennifer Widom is approachable, methodical, breaks down complex topics into easily manageable chunks and pushes you hard with attainable goals. The other two geniuses (Norvig and Thrun) will present something that you will have struggle (with frustrations because denial isn't an option with them) to get it. I loved her way of teaching and I am glad she taking on responsible roles.

I first heard of her when she wrote about taking a year off and traveling with her family [0]. I&#x27;ve taken 6 months off and would love to do it again.<p>[0] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cs.stanford.edu&#x2F;people&#x2F;widom&#x2F;yearoff.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;cs.stanford.edu&#x2F;people&#x2F;widom&#x2F;yearoff.html</a>

Her Databases MooC is now offered as a series of self-paced mini-courses:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lagunita.stanford.edu&#x2F;courses&#x2F;Home&#x2F;Databases&#x2F;Engineering&#x2F;about" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lagunita.stanford.edu&#x2F;courses&#x2F;Home&#x2F;Databases&#x2F;Enginee...</a>

Congrats! I acquired more practical knowledge in her CS145: Intro to Databases than any other single class.

Very impressive credentials and a well-deserved appointment. Being appointed Dean of the School of Engineering at one of the world&#x27;s most prestigious universities has to be close to the top of career achievements for an academic.

I took a course on databases through Stanford Online or something like that years ago, she was great. Glad she&#x27;s moving up in the world.

I can honestly say that taking Widom&#x27;s Intro DB class in the late 90s set my entire career trajectory. It may have been the most influential class I took at Stanford. I am very grateful for her teachings and guidance.

How much influence do deans have at Stanford? I think she&#x27;s a great teacher, but from my experience, your teaching ability is irrelevant when it comes to your responsibilities as Dean.

who cares? we seem to obsess over the elites when America is built off people going to state schools.

And the thermo guys are out. Might be a good time to recognize your University runs an isolated HCI group in it&#x27;s CS department and about 4 different &quot;Design&quot; groups within the School of Engineering that are _NOT_ connected to HCI in anyway...<p>Meanwhile the only course I know of at Stanford that teaches Arduino is at CCRMA.stanford.edu

Preface: I hold a BSE Product Design 2009, Stanford. I conducted research at the CDR. I took courses at the d.school and CCRMA. I attended weekly HCI research meetings for 3 weeks and saw Ed Catmull present to the HCI group once.<p>THIS IS AN IMPORTANT DESIGN ISSUE.<p>Please understand that Stanford&#x27;s School of Engineering pretty much owns and grossly mis-manages the teaching and cooperation amongst different groups with an interest in DESIGN that there are 6 programs in design that aren&#x27;t interrelated, HCI belongs to Computer Science, Design Impact is it&#x27;s own program, the d.school doesn&#x27;t grant degrees, I&#x27;m not sure what the &quot;Design Group&quot; in Mechanical Engineering is, but it is related to the only PhD design Program at Stanford, the CDR, and product design have no formal linkages. It would not be common for a Product Design student to ever know or encounter a CS HCI student, except by coincidence or other interest.<p>This represents an important change in leadership in the school of engineering. Previously it was my understanding the SoE was being run by the thermo guys who are totally clueless to the importance of Design. Stanford Engineering owns Stanford Design and is an extremely fragmented program which completely ISOLATES the Computer Science Department (a part of the School of Engineering) has ZERO ties to 5 other DESIGN programs at STANFORD within the SoE.[1][2][3][4][5][6]<p>Lastly the only course that teaches anything to do with arduino is at CCRMA.[6]<p>[1] Center for Design Research cdr.stanford.edu<p>[1] HCI hci.stanford.edu&#x2F;<p>[2] Design Impact – A Master of Science in Engineering Program at Stanford designimpact.stanford.edu&#x2F;<p>[3] Hasso Plattner Graduate School of Design aka d.school <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dschool.stanford.edu&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;dschool.stanford.edu&#x2F;</a><p>[4] ME Design Group <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;me.stanford.edu&#x2F;groups&#x2F;about-design-group" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;me.stanford.edu&#x2F;groups&#x2F;about-design-group</a><p>[5] Product Design <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;majors.stanford.edu&#x2F;product-design" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;majors.stanford.edu&#x2F;product-design</a><p>[6] CCRMA.stanford.edu (pronounced &quot;kharma&quot;)