Michael H. Pleck

Professor Emeritus of General Engineering
Assistant Dean Emeritus

Michael H. Pleck, Ph.D., P.E., became a full-time General Engineering faculty member in 1968. He earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois. In 1980, he was a visiting fellow at Cornell University and a visiting scholar at Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.

Pleck served as director of the Engineering Graphics Laboratory, a nationally renowned, pioneering facility for CAD-based instruction, from1984-1998. As course chair for GE 103 Engineering Graphics and Design, he was an active developer of innovative instructional courseware used in the Laboratory. Notably, under a three-year, IBM EXCEL grant in the mid 1980s, Pleck and co-PI Thomas Woodley were acknowledged to have produced the first definitive evidence that computer-assisted instruction could improve learning.

Pleck's teaching responsibilities also included GE 221 Introduction to General Engineering Design and GE 242 and 342 Senior Project Design over spans of twenty years each.

From 1993-2002, Pleck served as Associate Head and Chief Advisor of General Engineering. During that period, which ushered in computerized class registration, Pleck oversaw the development of the innovative GE Course Planning Consultant (CPC) and computerized GE curriculum maps (flowsheets) to aid in the undergraduate advising process.

Pleck's industrial background includes having served as a design engineer with Eastman Kodak Co., United States Steel Corporation, and Sandia National Laboratories; and as a CAD specialist with General Dynamics. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Illinois.

In 1974 Pleck received the College of Engineering Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence; in 1975 the inaugural Campus Award for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence; in 1977 the Jaycee's Outstanding Young College Educator Award; in 1980 the SAE Ralph R. Teetor Award; in 1983 the ASEE Western Electric Fund Award for Excellence in Engineering Instruction; in 1987 the General Engineering Gamma Epsilon Society Outstanding Professor Award; in 1990 the first NCGA MicroCADD Academic Award; in 1991 the first EDUCOM Joe Wyatt Challenge Award; in 1996 the UIUC Robert P. Larsen Human Development Award; in 1997 the UIUC Delta Sigma Omicron Distinguished Teaching Award; in 1999 the College of Engineering's Honorary Knight of St. Pat recognition; in 1999 the inaugural faculty Campus Award for Excellence in Advising Undergraduate Students; and in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, and 2000 the College of Engineering's Undergraduate Advising Excellence Award.

Contact Information
Office: 214 Transportation Building
Mailing Address:
117 Transportation Building MC-238
104 S. Mathews Ave.
Urbana IL 61801
Phone: (217) 333-3160
Fax: (217) 244-5705
e-mail: mhpleck at uiuc.edu

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