Lake Washington Technical College’s (LWTC) Board of Trustees has appointed David Woodall, Ph.D., PE, interim president, effective Jan. 1. He replaces President Sharon McGavick, Ph.D., who announced her intention to retire on Sept. 16.

The Board’s action came at their regularly scheduled Dec. 6 meeting.

“Dr. Woodall’s long and extensive background teaching and administering workforce education programs and his academic leadership at OIT make him well suited to continuing to move our college forward,” said Dr. Lynette D. Jones, chair of the Board of Trustees. “We are very pleased that Dr. Woodall has accepted the role as interim president and feel he is a great fit for LWTC.”

Dr. Woodall has spent the past seven-and-a-half years with the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT). He currently serves as professor and director of OIT Seattle, which provides educational programs geared to working professionals in the aerospace manufacturing environment of the Boeing Company.

He joined OIT in June 2003 as provost and vice president for Academic Affairs. He served in that position until June 2007 when he was named acting president, serving until October 2008. He then resumed his provost duties until heading up OIT Seattle.

Dr. Woodall has taught at the University of New Mexico (Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering), the University of Idaho (College of Engineering), the University of Alaska-Fairbanks (College of Science, Engineering and Mathematics), University of Rochester (Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Sciences) and at OIT.

He has served as a visiting scientist for the Department of Energy’s Office of Space, a visiting faculty member at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Centro des Estudios Nucleares, a visiting staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and as a consultant for several U.S. companies. He is the author of one book, “Study Guide for Professional Registration of Nuclear Engineers” (1991), 46 journal articles and publications, and over two dozen presentations to groups ranging from House subcommittees to department seminars.

Dr. Woodall received his Bachelor’s Degree with honors in Physics from Hendrix College (Conway, Ark.). He earned a Master of Science in Engineering from Columbia University (New York, N.Y.) and a Doctorate in Applied Physics from Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.).

Dr. McGavick was LWTC’s seventh full-time president and had served in the post since December 2007.