Sarah Rajala, dean of the College of Engineering, announced in August that she will be retiring at the end of the academic year. 

Rajala is the 12th dean of the College of Engineering and has served in the position since April 2013. It was announced in December of 2017 that she would be reappointed to a 5-year term.

Rajala is one of three female deans at Iowa State. The College of Engineering is the largest college at Iowa State, with Rajala overseeing over 9,600 students and 12 academic majors in her position.

Rajala’s academic career started as a faculty member at North Carolina State University where she spent 27 years before moving on to a leadership position at Mississippi State.

At Mississippi State, Rajala spent six and a half years as Dean of Engineering. She then came to Iowa State and has spent six years in her current position.

“As a faculty member one of the things I always enjoyed was being able to mentor and advise young people,” Rajala said. “I eventually had the opportunity to be the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, and when I got into that I really enjoyed what I was doing because it was all of the activities in the college that supported the success of the students.”

With the engineering student population rising from around 7,500 to around 9,500 students, Rajala and staff have to make sure they keep up with the increasing number of students.

“Certainly one of the things I’m proud of is the ability to continue to deliver a very high quality education for students during a time where we had significant growth in the population of students,” Rajala said. “Being able to have that wonderful team and be able to do that speaks volumes about the passion of our faculty and staff of the college.”

During Rajala’s tenure, the college has renovated and built new facilities, expanded its research portfolio and raised more than $185 million in philanthropic support.

Balaji Narasimhan, a faculty member in biological and chemical engineering, was the Associate Dean for research in the College of Engineering before Rajala came to Iowa State.

Narasimhan helped Rajala transition into Iowa State and worked with her as she was finding a successor for his role.

Rajala and Narasimhan worked together on a number of different fundraising initiatives. Narasimhan is the director of the nano vaccine institute on campus. The institute has been looking to move into new space over the next year or so and Rajala played a key role in helping raise external funds.

“It was wonderful seeing Sarah lay out the vision for the college and how this would help both our students and our faculty in a way that would be transformative,” Narasimhan said.

Narasimhan said all of their combined experiences gave him the opportunity to see how clearly she thinks and how good of a listener she is. 

“I learned a lot from seeing her create a shared vision. I think shared vision is most effective,” Narasimhan said. “It was very gratifying for me to see and something I took. Sarah has done an absolutely fantastic job. She is a big champion for our students, faculty and college.”

A main focus during Rajala’s time as dean was the growth and development of research and new facilities.

“Another thing I am very proud of is the work we have done to enhance the facilities that we have,” Rajala said. “Resources are always limited, but through the generosity of our friends and donors we got the resources to do a major renovation on Marston Hall.”

Rajala has worked in an industry that is a male dominated field. Rajala said throughout her education, her time spent as a faculty member and as a dean, she has had many firsts as a woman.

Rajala was the first female faculty member in her department at North Carolina State and the only female student in her undergraduate classes.

“I was the only female student in Electrical Engineering as an undergraduate at Michigan Tech in my class,” Rajala said. “You start to break ground in these areas. You work hard to find ways to be successful and create a path to make things better for those who are following you.”

Rajala took what she learned through these experiences and used it as a passion to create more diversity in all aspects of the field. 

“I have worked hard to expand diversity over the years,” Rajala said. “It’s important to have those different voices at the table. We’re always looking for ways to make sure the environment is nurturing and welcoming, and that everybody has a place at the table. Everybody’s voice is important.”

Though Rajala loves what she does, she decided not to continue with her 5 year reappointment.

Rajala’s husband is a senior lecturer in Geology and Atmospheric Sciences at Iowa State and will be retiring as well.They will be moving to North Carolina for the next part of their adventure.

“I love my job, I love what I’m doing,” Rajala said. “Deans jobs are big jobs, engineering is a large operation. If and when I decided to leave, I wanted to leave the college in a better place than when I started. And I think it is.” 

Rajala said she and her husband are looking forward to heading to North Carolina, where they raised their family and is a home to them.  

“I will still certainly continue to stay active in my professional society,” Rajala said. “I do a lot of service work for professional societies and giving back in other ways, and I’m sure there will be new opportunities to do that as well.”