Kind, caring, and student-centered are just a few of the qualities that friends and colleagues are remembering most about LeBold.

"Bill was one of the kindest people I have ever met," says William Oakes, professor in the School of Engineering Education (ENE). "He did so much for others. He loved Purdue, the students and its people."

Karl Smith, Cooperative Learning Professor in ENE and the Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor and Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at University of Minnesota, first met LeBold around 1980. The two bonded over their shared interest in engineering education research.

"Bill was a great friend and fabulous networker," Smith says. "I remember, vividly, the many times he took me under his wing at American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) events and introduced me to lots of people. He did, indeed, know everyone.

"Bill’s enthusiasm was infectious and his generosity legendary. I, too, was inspired by Bill and aspire to follow his dedication to advancing and celebrating the successes of others."

LeBold was a professor of engineering in Freshman Engineering from 1962 until his retirement in 2002. He also served as director of Engineering Educational Research Studies (72-84), Interim Director of Measurement and Research Center (1971), Assistant to the Dean of Engineering (1957-71), Associate Professor of Engineering and Educational Research (1958-61) and Research Assistant in Engineering Education, (1954-57). LeBold also held a courtesy appointment in Educational Psychology, Educational Studies, School of Education. He earned a BS and MS in electrical engineering and a PhD in psychology.

“Bill was a national authority on educational and employment opportunities for women and minorities in engineering and science, and an expert on supply and demand for engineers,” says David Radcliffe, Kamyar Haghighi Head of the School of Engineering Education at Purdue. The Freshman Engineering Program at Purdue evolved into the present-day First-Year Engineering Program, housed in ENE.

“We have lost a dear friend and colleague; a lifelong contributor to the development of engineering education based on scholarship and research at Purdue and nationally,” Radcliffe says.

Lebold helped develop and administered the Purdue Interest Questionnaire to assist more than 60,000 engineering, science and technology students and graduates in making educational and career decisions. He was a commissioner of the Engineering Workforce Commission, 1990-94.

In 2013, LeBold was featured (via video) in the ENE Interdisciplinary Colloquium “Indomitable Innovators.” The following is an excerpt from that, in which he recounts his start at Purdue.

“The new dean, George Hawkins, had just come back from a sabbatical before he became dean, and so he had been at UCLA, saw research work doing there, that’s why I was hired, essentially. They liked the fact that I had been teaching engineers, doing counseling; I had those three assignments; work with freshman engineers, alumni study, set up orientation seminar for new faculty and new graduate students; in three years (we) had so much data; doctoral dissertation, did longitudinal study of freshman engineering students; So that was my start.”

LeBold donated his papers to the Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections. The material from 1955 to 2002 primarily relates to vocational interests and student success, freshman engineering students, and similar studies. You can find a list of his papers HERE.

The following statements are from LeBold’s friends and colleagues at Purdue:

“Such sad news - we’ve lost one of the most incredibly kind people I have been blessed to know.”

“He could probably be dubbed the ‘Father of Student Success in Engineering’—so much of what’s going on now has an origin with him.”

"He was truly a pioneer in the emerging field of engineering education."