Graduate students seeking career-long graduate education opportunities through SCPD expect world class instruction and technological innovation. They find their mark in courses taught by Jim Plummer, Frederick Emmons Terman Dean of the School of Engineering (SoE) and the John M. Fluke Professor of Electrical Engineering. "Teaching and research are the two principal functions of all faculty," says Plummer. "People choose to be faculty members because they enjoy doing these things. Faculty who take on administrative jobs don't lose their love of teaching and research; they try to continue to do these things while they are involved in administration."

Despite the rigors of his administrative schedule, Plummer continues teaching and maintaining his research. He has been repeatedly recognized for teaching excellence, receiving the Graduate Teaching Award from Stanford students, the Tau Beta Pi Undergraduate Teaching Award, and the Society of Women Engineers Best Teacher Award. Plummer has an international reputation for his research in silicon circuit devices and technology. Last year he received a Third Millennium Medal by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for his outstanding contributions to the field of silicon devices and technology.

This autumn students may enroll in EE212: Integrated Circuit Fabrication Process, a graduate course taught by Plummer and offered through SCPD. (Click here to go to Dr. Plummer's personal web site.)



Plummer enthusiastically supports the application of Internet technologies to learning. He has offered his course to distance learners for years, and understands the potential emerging technologies hold to facilitate learning. "Web-based learning provides new opportunities for teaching and for learning. For example, students can skip over sections of a lecture they are already familiar with, or they can repeat sections they are having difficulty with. It opens a whole set of opportunities for students to focus on what their needs are for a particular body of information."

"Standing still is falling behind," says Plummer. "We must be willing to reinvent ourselves and take risks. Stanford is poised to take a leadership position in the technologies, systems and software that will drive information technology in the 21st century, so it is critical that we continue to recruit the very best faculty, students and staff." Plummer's enthusiasm for web-based learning and his proactive advocacy of research and interdisciplinary initiatives in leading edge fields like bioengineering, photonics, wired and wireless networks, materials, computational math and engineering, and management science and engineering translate into unprecedented opportunities for distance learning students at Stanford.

After thirty years of teaching at Stanford, Plummer's professional commitment remains clear. "In my own case, I expect to continue teaching on a regular basis while I am dean and I expect to maintain a vigorous research group. These are the things that provide the greatest satisfaction in university life." Students in Plummer's course - in any Stanford course offered through SCPD - are beneficiaries of this passion for teaching, commitment to innovation and vision for the future.