Ouster at UCI Bewilders Dean of Engineering : Education: William Sirignano says his job performance was praised by chancellor. Action surprises colleagues.

The dean of UC Irvine’s School of Engineering said Wednesday that he doesn’t understand why Chancellor Laurel L. Wilkening ousted him from the post he has held for nearly a decade.

“What she said doesn’t make sense to me,” said William A. Sirignano, 55, who was told by Wilkening during a meeting last week that he was being forced out. “She said I was doing a fine job and that she wanted to keep the momentum (in the school) going. But she didn’t want me to continue. In a certain sense, I was bewildered.”

Sirignano is also a tenured engineering professor at UCI, so he can return to teaching after he steps down as dean on Sept. 1.

On Wednesday, faculty members in the engineering school also said they were surprised by Wilkening’s decision.

“I was shocked. . . . Sirignano is an outstanding dean by all measures,” said Said Elghobashi, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “He’s incredible. He transformed UCI engineering” and helped the school achieve “a national reputation.”

Wilkening could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But Karen Newell Young, UCI’s director of public information, said the decision came after a review of Sirignano’s record by administrators and an Academic Senate committee.

Most UCI deans undergo a review every five years. Based on each review, the chancellor makes a final decision on whether to reappoint the dean, Young said.

The opinions of students, faculty members, fellow deans, staff members and business leaders are solicited as part of the review process. The Committee of Academic Personnel, which is made up mostly of faculty members, analyzes the data and prepares a report for the chancellor. A separate finding also is prepared by the university’s executive vice chancellor.

“This involves careful and lengthy deliberations,” Young said. “By the time you are done, you have gathered a fairly comprehensive dossier.”

The committee handed down a recommendation on whether Sirignano should be reappointed, but Young refused to elaborate because it was a personnel matter.

Wilkening made the announcement Monday in a memo that praised Sirignano for doing a “fine job in guiding the School during a period of substantial growth and achievements.”

Sirignano said Wilkening’s statement was puzzling because she praised his accomplishments at the same time as she removed him from the job.

Her decision “didn’t follow a logical analysis,” Sirignano said. “I didn’t understand it.”

Under Sirignano’s tenure as dean, he hired about 50 of the school’s 70 professors and helped double the size of the graduate program, from about 200 students to about 400. Research funds increased eight times during his nine years as dean.