by Bob Jacobsen '63

Peter Crouch, born and educated primarily in England, was seeking opportunity in 1977. The ASU Dean of the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences had just received his Ph.D. in Applied Sciences from Harvard and wanted to remain in the United States.

"It was clear my academic achievements would be a lot greater in the U.S.," he said. "There were simply more opportunities here." So while he would tell you he still loves England, he would also tell you this:

"My greatest regret in life was returning to the United Kingdom. When I went back, I found my Harvard education was not doing me much good."

He became a lecturer for seven years in the Control Theory Center in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Warwick, his alma mater.

In August 1984 opportunity came knocking in the form of a visiting associate professorship in the Department of Mathematics at ASU. He answered ready, willing and able.

"One of my professors at Harvard had decided to move to ASU to start up the Systems Science Center," said Crouch, "and he needed help. I was offered a position in the Math Department, and the next year a job in Engineering."

From that point Crouch's career skyrocketed. He became an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering in 1985, a full professor in 1988 and acting chair for the department that same year. In 1989 he was appointed the first director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering, and in 1992 was named chair of the Electrical Engineering Department.

"Being Chairman of EE was really exciting for me," Crouch said. "It was a time when I discovered my ability to be an administrator. Also, my research was blossoming. It was an amazing time because lots of things came together. I liked that position an awful lot."

In 1995, the college's top position opened, and Crouch was offered its deanship. It was a position he didn't seek, he said, but readily accepted. It was too intriguing for him to pass up. ASU wanted stability and an internal candidate, and Crouch was its choice.

"Like many industries, promoting from within is good because you get somebody with the same culture," he said. "I was encouraged to apply. And it turned out to be a tremendous opportunity."

"Every day there is a new issue and a new challenge," he said. "While teaching and research are things I like to do, I find them too repetitive. There is repetition as a Dean, too, but most of the job is not. Although everyone has a boss, you pretty much can call your own shots.

"I find it interesting to be challenged and to understand the issues of growth and planning. Where we go as a college depends in large part on how innovative I can be. That's a constant challenge."

Born in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Crouch moved to Birmingham, and eventually settled with his family in Coventry, a town in the center of England and about 20 miles from Stratford-on-Avon. He had a Jordy accent from his earlier days in Newcastle, but that quickly changed in Birmingham and Coventry. "They have their own accent," he said, "and it is very strong. It cancelled out my earlier one. Today my accent is non-descript."

His father was a mechanical engineer, and taught at a polytechnic school, halfway between community colleges and universities, Crouch said. They had degree programs, but not graduate programs. The year his father retired, polytechnics were made universities.

"My father ran a co-op program for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and part of my childhood was spent traveling with him and his students to different sites," he said. "I got a view of the industry prevalent around Coventry, auto manufacturing and mining. It offered the typical view of what people have of an engineer, clothed in oil, coal dust, etc."

It had an effect on Crouch. It was clear to him the last thing he wanted to do was wind up working in that field. "I knew I was not going to end up there," he said.

His father had told him the only way out was to become well educated. But he said he didn't test well, and wound up in a comprehensive school, where he excelled. He admits he was a late developer, but as he did, his ability went skyward. "My last three years of high school, I had almost individual instruction because we didn't have many students," he said. "I had excellent high school preparation because of luck and parents who cared."

Then it was on to Warwick, which is close to Coventry. The school was founded only in 1959, and enrollment was around 6,000. Crouch earned his Bachelor of Science in engineering science in 1973 and completed a co-op program with General Electric. He knew he would not work for them. So it was back to Warwick.

"I got my Master's in Control Theory the next year," he said. "We had a number of American visitors to the Math Department there, and since I was a fairly bright student a lot of them convinced me to go to the United States.

"I applied to many universities in the U.S., but more importantly I applied for scholarships to pay for my education. The ironic thing is I applied to Oxford and Cambridge in England six times, but was never accepted. I applied to Harvard once, and I got in."

He had never been to the U.S. and had little money, but Harvard admitted him anyway. Finally he obtained a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship for graduate study, and earned his Ph.D.

Crouch's hobbies include driving his Lexus GS400 and cooking -- and he does find time for them. He admits he likes to drive fast, and said he can cook better than anything he'd find in a regular restaurant.

"I get great pleasure driving up steep, long hills faster than anybody else," he laughed. "That comes from my childhood. I used to watch John Wayne movies in these fictitious places with cacti and mesas, and imagine myself driving in them. The experience of driving in Arizona is almost mystical because I once thought that was unattainable. Now suddenly I'm here.

"Add that to my love of technology, and you can see why I love it. You can drive in the most amazing country (Arizona) in the world in one of the most amazing technological innovations. This fusion of technology and memories as a child makes it an amazing experience for me."

As for cooking, he said he has nearly always done that. At Warwick, Brits didn't normally sign up for meal plans, and his dorm room had a kitchen.

"Part of being a student was fending for yourself," said Crouch. "One soon learned cooking was part of survival. Actually I'm still learning. What I learned then was an ability to be unafraid of failure. I don't need a recipe, I feel I have this confidence and can be successful.

"When I was married, I must admit I pretty well contained my cooking. But after we got a divorce, cooking became important very quickly once again. I find it relaxing. When I'm cooking I can't be working. I make myself do it because I would drive myself nuts if I didn't do it."

Now entering his eighth year as Dean, with a new President on board and in a position he loves, what does the future hold for Peter Crouch?

"That's a good question," he said. "I am interested in continuing to drive this college, with the many challenges involved. I'm also interested in finding out if there are greater challenges I could take on -- here or somewhere else. I don't believe there are many options left for me at ASU.

"Arizona is such an amazingly nice place to live, plus ASU is a very interesting and stimulating university. That's a combination that would be hard to find elsewhere. I'm not actively looking for other options, and they don't occur very often. Most Deans get barraged with opportunities, but almost none of them are very interesting.

"I know Michael Crow will deal with the evolution of the university in a very different way. There's a big difference in how private and state universities operate. Raising money is very important, it occupies about one-third of my time, but much of my job is related to personnel issues. This college has 200 faculty, 450 staff and 6,500 students. Every day something goes wrong and there's an emergency.

"With President Crow on board, I will get a totally new university without moving. He brings his style of leadership, which I think will be interesting for years to come. I also think the college will be a much more central component to the university's evolution, and that's exciting. Understanding how to work with the new President will certainly be the No. 1 priority for me."

ASU College of Engineeering & Applied Sciences Dean Peter Crouch.

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