Mark G. Wessel has been named dean of Carnegie Mellon's H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, where he has served as acting dean since February of 2003.

"I am very pleased that Mark Wessel will assume the deanship. He will provide strong leadership and superb management skills. I look forward to continuing to work with him," said Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon.

As dean, Wessel will direct the school's academic programs in public policy and management, health care policy and management, arts management, public management, medical management, educational technology management, and information security policy and management. He also will be responsible for academic programs in information systems and technology management and for six research centers.

Wessel, who came to the Heinz School in 1993, has served in administrative capacities such as director of health care programs, associate dean, senior associate dean and chief operating officer.

His responsibilities have included management of the operational functions of the Heinz School, program development and management, development and oversight of the school's master's programs in information technology management, and student advising.

"For more than a decade, Mark Wessel has provided consistent leadership and vision while serving the Heinz School in a wide variety of key posts," said Carnegie Mellon Provost Mark Kamlet, who was dean of the Heinz School from 1994 to 2000. "He will continue to build upon the Heinz School's strengths, particularly at the intersection of policy, management and information technology."

Wessel is a former economist and financial analyst for the United States Department of Energy. Prior to coming to Carnegie Mellon, he was a development specialist with the Mon Valley Initiative, where he developed community-based regional economic and social development strategies and projects for distressed communities in Western Pennsylvania.

He served as assistant to the associate dean and undergraduate economics advisor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he earned his master's degree in economics. Wessel earned a bachelor of science degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.

In U.S. News and World Report Magazine's 2001 ranking of graduate schools in public affairs, the Heinz School ranked seventh overall and first in the specialty area of information technology. The Heinz School has built an international reputation for excellence in educational programs and faculty research.

Its programs in information technology, criminal justice policy, policy analysis, finance and environmental policy are respected across the nation and internationally as among the elite. Programs in health care and medical management, educational technology and other areas continue to grow and take national prominence.

Heinz School graduates serve in key managerial positions across a wide range of government, business and nonprofit organizations. The school still takes a flexible and interdisciplinary approach to teach students to look at societal problems from many different perspectives, using technology, quantitative and qualitative analysis and group dynamics to arrive at innovative solutions.

Teresa Thomas