“P.K. has had a distinguished career in high tech spanning the public, private, and nonprofit sectors.”
P.K. Agarwal, a seasoned tech executive who most recently founded the Silicon Valley satellite campus of Northeastern University, has been selected as the new dean of UCSC Silicon Valley Extension, effective Aug. 1, 2018.
“Chancellor Cynthia Larive and I are thrilled to add such an accomplished executive to our team at UC Santa Cruz,” said Lori Kletzer, UC Santa Cruz interim campus provost and executive vice chancellor. “P.K. has had a distinguished career in high tech spanning the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. He is a national leader in academics and technology.”
A year-long search
Agarwal was selected after a year-long national search to fill the position. He replaces Therese Ammiro, assistant dean and director of Information Communications Technologies, who has served as interim dean since the retirement of Lynda M. Rogers June 30, 2018.
As the founding CEO and dean of Northeastern, Agarwal grew the program to 750 students in three years, launching new programs and working with major employers throughout the region while also stressing diversity and inclusion.
Before joining Northeastern, he was CEO of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Global, a multinational nonprofit dedicated to the growth of entrepreneurship, with 13,000 members in 61 cities in 18 countries. Prior to TiE, he was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the first director of the Department of Technology Services for the state of California.
He holds a Master of Science in Operations Research from UC Berkeley and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from California State University-Sacramento. He attained a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.
At UCSC Extension
In his new position at UCSC Silicon Valley Extension, Agarwal will oversee an accredited professional development program with about 12,000 enrollments through its three-dozen certificate programs, mini awards and continuing ed series. The focus is providing high-demand workforce skills to students and professionals at all stages of their careers in the areas of technology, design, education, business, and bioscience.
In addition, Extension is home to Smarter Balanced, which designs and administers standardized assessments for roughly 7 million K-12 students, and UC Scout, which provides high quality, online college preparation and Advanced Placement courses to Californians and a growing national audience.
Kletzer, thanked Ammiro for her leadership as well as members of the Extension dean search committee, which was chaired by University Librarian Elizabeth Cowell.
“The committee brought forth an exceptionally talented pool of finalists, and I am extremely appreciative of their work,” she said.