TEACHING
Since 1990, Dr. Pessiki has taught a wide spectrum of undergraduate and graduate courses in structural engineering, structural design, engineering materials, nondestructive evaluation of materials and structures, and condition evaluation of structures. A dedicated teacher, Dr. Pessiki has taught thousands of students in his 25+ year teaching career. He was awarded the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science Teaching Excellence Award in 2007, the College of Engineering and Applied Science Teaching Excellence Award in 1997, the Lehigh Award for Distinguished Teaching in 1996, and was a finalist for the Finalist, Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching (Lehigh University’s highest recognition for distinguished teaching) in 1993. In 2002, he was recognized as a Distinguished Educator by the Precast / Prestressed Concrete Institute. His undergraduate institution, Drexel University, recognized him with a Distinguished Alumni Lectureship in 2005.
From 2005-2011 Dr. Pessiki served as chairperson of Lehigh’s department of civil and environmental engineering. During his tenure as chairperson, CEE: improved its USNWR departmental ranking from 31 to 19 out of 141 doctoral degree granting programs nationwide; created a new professional masters program in structural engineering, which served as the template for several subsequent programs in the college; achieved an inaugural 6-year accreditation of its new B.S. in environmental Engineering degree program; relocated all environmental and geotechnical engineering research laboratories to the newly constructed STEPS building; completed a major overhaul renovation of the environmental and geotechnical engineering teaching laboratories in Fritz Engineering Laboratory; and maintained annual research expenditures of approximately $8M.
From 2011-2015, Dr. Pessiki served as a Senior Faculty Adviser in Lehigh’s Office of International Affairs, where he assisted with several initiatives, including: the development of new institutional partnerships in Malaysia (University of Petronas / Epoh), Indonesia (Universiti Gadjah Mada / Yogjakarta), and China (Tongji University / Shanghai), University of Science and Technology China / Hefei); the development of two new international internship programs for Lehigh undergraduates in China (USTC) and Malaysia (UTP); and mentoring to the Botstiber Scholars program. Dr. Pessiki presently chairs the University Faculty Committee on Global Affairs, and is a member of the ACE Internationalization Laboratory Committee at Lehigh working on the development of Lehigh's new strategy for internationalization.