Brown University now has a Wichita State connection.

Over the last few months, Ravi Pendse has received offers to join other universities. Pendse recently accepted the position of vice president for computing and information services at Brown in Providence, R.I. He starts at Brown on Sept. 1.

“Dr. Pendse is a real asset to the university. He obviously has a long history here as a student, as a faculty member and as an administrator,” President John Bardo said. “Going to Brown is one of those professional opportunities that are very rare in a career. It’s a lot of mixed emotions.”

Bardo added that this is one of the opportunities he would like co-workers to have. But at the same time he hates to see him go.

“I have been here for 27 years. I am very proud of the relationships I have been able to build at WSU,” Pendse said. “And when you do that at one institution for a very long time, sometimes other institutions notice that you are doing something right. And they will typically reach out to you.”

Pendse said he found reasons to stay at WSU despite the several offers he received over the years. He saw similarities between the faculty and staff at Brown and those at WSU when he visited Brown.

“It seemed like a good fit, and I decided to try a new adventure,” he said.

Pedse said the Advanced Network Research Institute is in good hands and it will continue to grow, and he would not be surprised if one day it became as big as NIAR. He said personal as well as professional reasons influenced his decision.

“My son has just graduated from high school and it is a good time to move,” Pendse said.

Pendse serves as the director for ANRI and as the vice president for information technology at WSU. His resignation starts a nationwide search for a replacement.

“What we will do is we will place an interim leadership in to give us time to do a national search. I am also talking with the new vice president for academic affairs about how we organize and what strengths we are looking for in the next person,” Bardo said. “There are a lot of opportunities, both on the research side and on the CIO side.”

Over the next week or two, Bardo will finalize the organizational structure following Pendse’s resignation. The nationwide replacement search then begins.

“I hope [my students] understand that the joy and knowledge they’ve given me is greater than anything I could’ve done for them,” he said.

Pendse’s office walls are decorated with several teaching awards, and he takes pride in being a teacher. He considers teaching as his true calling and insists on teaching every semester despite his other commitments.

“He was my adviser during my master’s [degree], and when I started working full-time at the ANRI in 2006 he became my boss,” said Amarnath Jasti, a senior research associate at ANRI. “He had several roles to play on campus. But when you needed him, he was always there – it could be academic, personal or work related. We will miss him.”