Anastasios Venetsanopoulos - Career

Career

Professor Venetsanopoulos joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) at the University of Toronto in September 1968 as a Lecturer and he was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1970, Associate Professor in 1973, and Professor in 1981. Venetsanopoulos has served as Chair of the Communications Group and Associate Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering. Between July 1997 – June 2001, he was Associate Chair of the Graduate Studies of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and was Acting Chair during the spring term of 1998-99. In 1999 a Chair in Multimedia was established in the ECE Department, made possible by a donation of $1.25 Million from Bell Canada, matched with $1 Million of university funds. Venetsanopoulos served as Inaugural Chairholder between 1999 and 2005 and two Assistant Professors were hired in the same area. During the period 2001–2006, he served as the 12th Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto.

Venetsanopoulos’ five-year term as the 12th Dean of the University of Toronto Applied Science and Engineering, the largest and most prominent Faculty of Engineering in Canada, was characterized by an ambitious record of achievement. During his tenure, the "Great Minds" campaign of the Faculty reached $124 Million in external donations matched by an equal amount of funds from granting agencies and foundations. There were two major buildings constructed – the Bahen Centre for Information Technology with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Terrance Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research with the Faculty of Medicine. A Strategic Plan for 2004-2010 set the direction for Faculty-wide revitalization. The undergraduate curriculum was revised to offer greater flexibility and enrichment. The Office of the Vice-Dean, Research and Graduate Studies was introduced to enhance the research of the Faculty. An exceptional number of citations of professors of the Faculty resulted, while streamlining of administrative units across the Faculty. The Faculty of Engineering increased its focus on teaching and on the quality of the student experience. There was greater multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Professor Venetsanopoulos was on research leave at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, the National Technical University of Athens, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, the University of Florence, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the University of Grenoble, France, and has also served as Adjunct Professor at Concordia University. During the period of 2003-06 he served as a member of the advisory board of the Faculty of Engineering of the National University of Singapore. In April 2009, he was appointed as the Distinguished Guest Professor of the Communications University of China. He has served as lecturer in 138 short courses to industry and continuing education programs and as Consultant to numerous organizations.

On October 1, 2006, Dr. Venetsanopoulos joined Ryerson University as the Founding Vice-President of Research and Innovation. In that position, Venetsanopoulos accepted the oversight of Ryerson’s international activities, research ethics and the Office of Research Services and the Office of Innovation and Commercialization. In this role, he announced four strategies to transform the Ryerson University, which was a Polytechnic Institution only a few years before. First, provide stimulus and support to increase both the quality and quantity of scholarly research and creative activity with the stated goal of a research enterprise of over $20 Million by the 2010-11 fiscal year. Second, to facilitate the transfer of the knowledge created to the community, industry and marketplace. Third, to increasingly pursue partnerships and collaborations that support the overall scholarly research and creative activities plan. Fourth, to provide research opportunities to both undergraduate and graduate students throughout the University. Under his leadership, the research trajectory at Ryerson included international competitions for outstanding postdoctoral fellows, a focus on increasing innovation, international and commercial activity, and university support for excellence and ingenuity among graduate and undergraduate students.

On June 30, 2010, Dr. Venetsanopoulos retired from the position of Vice-President Research and Innovation at Ryerson and took a one-year administrative leave and subsequently joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In the words of Ryerson's President Sheldon Levy, "As the first ever Vice-President, Research and Innovation at Ryerson, Tas brought to the position an immediate credibility and presence based on his own international research record. He advanced research in ways that established the university as active and competitive in Scholarly Research and Creative Activity. Under his leadership Ryerson has attracted scholars and postdoctoral fellows with unprecedented momentum, and made great progress in visibility, perception and objective rankings related to research." "Externally funded research has more than doubled in the past four years, and Ryerson now ranks in the top half of non-medical universities in Canada for research." "Under Tas' leadership the research trajectory at Ryerson has been one of extraordinary growth and success". Since December 2011 he has been appointed "Distinguished Advisor to the Vice President Research and Innovation" and continues his full-time academic duties as a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ryerson University.