Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Wallace H. Coulter School Distinguished Professor of Engineering Norbert L. Ackermann of Potsdam was named professor emeritus at Clarkson University's 118th Commencement on Saturday, May 7. Ackermann will be honored for 36 years of exemplary service to the University.

Ackermann has been a dedicated teacher, inspiring generations of Clarkson students for over 30 years. He advised master's and Ph.D. candidates throughout his career and was honored by his students and colleagues as an exemplary educator as a recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award. Last year, he was named the Wallace H. Coulter School Distinguished Professor of Engineering.

Ackermann was dean of the School of Engineering for three years of distinguished service, which culminated in the school receiving a $30-million gift from the Wallace H. Coulter Foundation in recognition and in support of its high-quality engineering and science programs. He served as executive officer and chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering for a combined 25 years, one of the longest and most productive tenures in the history of the School of Engineering.

During Ackermann's leadership, the department experienced remarkable growth in scholarship, which led to consistently high-ranking degree programs at both the graduate and undergraduate level. He also served as chair of the Faculty Senate, Administrative Council and Honors Program Council.

Ackermann has contributed important research in the fields of river hydraulics and mechanics of granular flow. He is a long-standing member of the American Society of Civil Engineering and served as a member and chair of the technical committee on fluids, and chair of the subcommittee on granular flow, engineering mechanics division of ASCE.

He received his bachelor of science, master of science, and doctoral degrees from Carnegie Institute of Technology. He joined Clarkson's faculty in 1975 as chair of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.