While president of Georgia Tech, Pettit advanced the causes of research and industrial development at the school; Tech's research budget surpassed the $100 million mark and Pettit headed Tech's $100 million Centennial Campaign.
In 1947, Pettit joined the faculty of Stanford University, and was named Professor of Electrical Engineering in 1954. He was named Dean of the Stanford School of Engineering in 1958, and would remain in the position until 1972.[1][2]
Georgia Tech
Pettit became president of the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1972.[3] During his 14-year tenure as president, Pettit was credited with turning Georgia Tech into a top tier research institution.[4] Pettit has also received credit for shifting Georgia Tech back to its roots with regards to providing assistance with economic development within the state of Georgia. In the decades known for the Vietnam War and the launch of Sputnik, research at Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Research Institute had become so tied with NASA and the Department of Defense that local industrial development had been largely forgotten.[5] In 1975, the Georgia General Assembly designated the Engineering Experiment Station (now the Georgia Tech Research Institute) as the "Georgia Productivity Center". Georgia was the first state to designate such a center to encourage business productivity.[6]
In the aftermath of the launch of Scientific Atlanta by Glen P. Robinson and the subsequent disputes, Georgia Tech's culture encouraged hard work, but did not encourage start-ups.[5] This changed during Joseph Pettit's administration; Pettit was at Stanford during the development of Silicon Valley and worked to change the culture to inspire something similar in Atlanta. "That was when Tech began actively encouraging faculty, staff and students to be entrepreneurial... In some ways it was a shift back to our roots, with Tech beginning to reconnect with the state through the Advanced Technology Development Center, the Economic Development Institute and the Georgia Research Alliance", according to Bob McMath.[5][7]
During Pettit's tenure as Georgia Tech's president, the Institute progressed into top tier of technological education institutions. Under his leadership, Tech's research budget surpassed the $100 million mark for the first time in its history. In addition, Pettit spearheaded Tech's historic $100 million Centennial Campaign.[5][8] A total of $202.7 million was raised during the Centennial Campaign, which was Georgia Tech's first major fundraising effort.[9] Pettit worked closely with J. Erskine Love, Jr. with regards to these fundraising efforts; Love was later asked to deliver the eulogy at Pettit's funeral.[10]
Pettit also oversaw Georgia Tech's application and admittance into the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), an athletic league founded in 1953 which included seven charter members. Georgia Tech had withdrawn from the Southeastern Conference in January 1964 and had operated as an Independent until 1975 when Georgia Tech joined the Metro Conference. Georgia Tech was admitted to the ACC on April 3, 1978. The ACC has expanded from 8 to 12 members since that time.[6][11]
Pettit died of cancer in 1986, and his vice president of academic affairs, Henry C. Bourne, Jr., served as interim president.[12]
Honors and awards
Pettit was awarded the President's Certificate of Merit in 1949 for his contributions during World War II.[1] He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Radio Engineers (now part of IEEE) in 1954 and served on that organization's board of directors from 1954 to 1955.[1] He was elected as a life member of IEEE in 1982.[1] While in IRE and later IEEE, Pettit founded two academic conferences: Wescon in 1949 and Southcon in 1981.[1]